Out of wedlock birth rate up

More than four in 10 babies were born out of wedlock last year, figures presented today (Thurs) reveal.Austrian statistic authority Statistik Austria announced that 40.1 per cent of all babies born in 2010 were born out of wedlock, up slightly from 39.2 per cent in the previous year.Carinthia registered the highest share of illegitimate births (53.5 per cent) ahead of the province of Styria with 49.4 per cent.An overall 77,814 babies were born in all nine provinces of Austria in 2010, 3.2 per cent more than in 2009. Vienna recorded the highest year on year increase at 5.3 per cent.The most births took place in August (7,037) and July (6,953), while monthly figures were at their lowest in January (4,905) and February (5,974).These announcements come shortly after Eurostat, the European Commission’s (EC) statistic agency, found that Austria has the second-lowest birth rate in the European Union (EU).Eurostat announced that there were 9.1 births per 1,000 inhabitants in Austria in 2009. Only neighbouring Germany had a lower rate that year with 7.9.The Republic of Ireland was reported as having the highest birth rate among the EU-27 with 16.8 births per 1,000 inhabitants ahead of the United Kingdom.More than 5.3 million children were born in the EU in 2009, according to Eurostat.