The number of births outside marriage in the State reached 4,275 in January-March this year, the highest level since detailed records began in 1976, according to the Central Statistics Office.
Of 13,388 births registered in the first three months of this year, 32 per cent were to unmarried parents.
The number has risen steeply since 1976, when there were 640 births outside marriage in the first quarter out of 17,000 live births, the data showed. It has more than doubled in the past decade, from 1,670 in January-March 1989.