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Births to Unmarried Women                                                
                                                                                                    
'Births to Unmarried Women' is the percent of all births in which the                               
mother is not married.  In 2001, about five out of every 14 Arkansas                                
women giving birth were unmarried.  Unmarried motherhood is frequently                              
associated with being young, poor, having relatively little education,                              
and receiving poor prenatal care.  As a consequence, such women tend to                             
have a greater incidence of a broad range of adverse reproductive                                   
outcomes.                                                                                           
                                                                                                    
Births to Unmarried Women is calculated simply as a percentage of all                               
births.  In 2001, there were 13,375 such births out of a total of                                   
36,982.  Therefore, the percent of Births to Unmarried Women = (13,375                              
/ 36,982) X 100 = 36.2 percent.  As a comparison, the United States                                 
percent of births to unmarried women in 2001 was 33.5 percent.                                      
                                                                                                    
Births to unmarried women were highest in the Delta region of eastern                               
Arkansas.  For the 1997-2001 period, births to unmarried women were                                 
highest in Phillips County, with an average of 71.1 percent of all live                             
births being born to unmarried women.  Montgomery County, on the other                              
end of the spectrum, averaged only 18.9 percent of live births to                                   
unmarried women.                                                                                    
                                                                                                    
There were significant differences by Public Health Regions in the                                  
percent of births to unmarried women from 1997-2001.  The Southeast                                 
region had the highest average at 53.1 percent, while the Northwest                                 
region was the lowest with 27.5 percent.                                                            
                                                                                                    
Births to Unmarried Women differs significantly by race.  Over 74                                   
percent of Black Arkansans giving birth during 1997-2001 were                                       
unmarried.  The percent was much lower for White Arkansans, at 24.4                                 
percent.                                                                                            
                                                                                                    
In Arkansas, the long-term trend has been toward an increase in births                              
to unmarried women.  In 1983, 21.9 percent of all births in Arkansas                                
were to unmarried women.  By 2001, this had increased to 36.2 percent.                              
                                                                                                    
It should be noted that marital status is reported in reference to the                              
pregnancy.  A woman is considered married if she is married at any time                             
from conception to birth.                                                                           
                                                                                                    
The reader should be cautioned that the percent of births to unmarried                              
women is influenced by several factors.  These include the fertility of                             
both unmarried and married women, as well as their relative                                         
distributions in the population.                                                                    
 
 
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