The Census Bureau recently released a study examining the lives of unmarried women who have given birth in the past 12 months. According to the report, as of 2011, 62 percent of women age 20 to 24 who gave birth in the previous 12
months were unmarried, according to a report released by the U.S. Census
Bureau. This compares with 17 percent among women age 35 to 39.
The information comes from
Social
and Economic Characteristics of Currently Unmarried Women with a Recent Birth:
2011, an American Community Survey (ACS) report. The analysis is
based on separate survey questions on whether women have given birth to any
children in the past 12 months and what their marital status is. Unfortunately the statistics in the report are only available presently at the national and state levels,
so getting county level data on the same information isn't possible at this point through the ACS.
However, there was this interesting map at the end of the report showing the metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) data, which does include the Utica-Rome MSA. The Utica-Rome MSA includes all of Herkimer and Oneida Counties combined. If you click on the map below to enlarge it, you can see I have circled our MSA in the heart of New York State. Basically it shows that we are similar to the rest of the country when it comes to the percent of females (ages 15 to 50) who have given birth in the last 12 months.
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So while we aren't able to replicate the exact analysis done in the report cited above, I did take a look at some of the characteristics of unmarried females who had given birth in the last 12 months that are available through the 2011 Five Year ACS Estimates. The complete table of data appears below. Briefly, here are some of what the data tells us:
- All counties are not created equal - Herkimer County (5.8%) has a higher percentage of females (married and unmarried combined) having given birth in the past 12 months than has Oneida County (4.7%);
- Considerably more recent moms (again, still looking at both married and unmarried combined) are under the age of 25 in Herkimer County (43.2%) compared to Oneida County (31.7%) or NY State (21.7%);
- Nearly half of all "new moms" in Oneida County (46.1%) were unmarried at the time they recently gave birth; about 38% of new moms in Herkimer County were unmarried;
- Regionally only about a third of all unmarried females who have given birth in the past 12 months live with an adult partner (35.2% in Herkimer County, and 27.5% in Oneida County);
- While about 60% of all NY State "unmarried new moms" had a high school diploma or less, three out of four (75%) unmarried females who had given birth in the past 12 months from Herkimer County had a high school education or less.
- More than twice the percentage of "unmarried new moms" were not working in Herkimer County (57.6%) compared to Oneida County (27.2%);
- And somewhat surprisingly, less than 5% of all unmarried females who had given birth in the past 12 months from Herkimer County received public assistance in the past 12 months, compared to more than 12% in Oneida County.
A table with Herkimer County, Oneida County and New York State data about unmarried females who have given birth in the past 12 months appears below with all of this, and other, data !
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(Updated 5/3) THANKS to Melinda Moyer Whitbeck, the Director of Health Information and Data Services in the Finger lakes Health System Agency, for pointing me in the direction of the Vital Statistics page of the NYS Department of Health which happens to have "out of wedlock" data by mothers age down to the county level. After digging around there for a while, I put together the following table which shows the percent of women age 20 to 24 who gave birth in the previous year that were unmarried for New York State, New York City, the non-New York City portion of the state, and Herkimer and Oneida Counties.
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