HC Deb 19 June 2002 vol 387 cc394-6W
Mr. Laws

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the percentage of dependant children living in lone-parent families in the UK in each of the last 30 years; and if he will make a statement. [62404]

Ruth Kelly

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. David Laws, dated 19 June 2002: As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question on the percentage of dependent children living in lone-parent families. (62404) Historical estimates of the percentage of all dependent children who live in one-parent families are available from the General Household Survey which covers Great Britain. The proportions—based on three year averages—are as follows:

Percentage
19711 8
1981 11
1990 17
1991 18
1996 21
1998 23
20001 25
1 Based on a single GHS year's data only.

Mr. Laws

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what proportion of children in the UK have been born outside marriage in each of the last 30 years; and if he will make a statement; [62403]

(2) what his estimate is of the proportion of babies born to teenage women in the UK in each of the last 25 years; and if he will make a statement. [62402]

Ruth Kelly

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. David Laws, dated 19 June 2002: As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent questions on the proportion of children born outside marriage in each of the last 30 years in the UK, and the proportion of babies born to teenage women in each of the last 25 years in the UK. A single reply has been used to answer your questions. (62403 and 62402) The information for the first question is given in the attached table A, and for the second question in the attached table B.

Table A. Number of births outside marriage per 1,000 live births, United Kingdom, 1972–2001
Year Proportion of births

outside marriage

1972 84
1973 84
1974 87
1975 90
1976 90
1977 95
1978 100
1979 106
1980 115
1981 125
1982 141
1983 154
1984 170
1985 189
1986 210
1987 229
1988 251
1989 266
1990 279
1991 298
1992 308
1993 317
1994 320
1995 336
1996 355
1997 368
1998 376
1999 388
2000 395
2001 401
Table B. Number of births to mothers aged under 20 per 1,000 live births, United Kingdom, 1977–2001
Year Proportion of births to mothers

aged under 20 years

1977 97
1978 95
1979 93
1980 93
1981 89
1982 89
1983 86
1984 86
Table B. Number of births to mothers aged under 20 per1,000 live births, United Kingdom, 1977–2001
Year Proportion of births to mothers

aged under 20 years

1985 87
1986 87
1987 85
1988 85
1989 81
1990 79
1991 75
1992 70
1993 68
1994 64
1995 65
1996 69
1997 73
1998 76
1999 78
2000 77
2001 75

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