One third of births in EU outside marriage in 2004: Eurostat

One in every three new births in the European Union (EU) in 2004 took place outside marriage, said Eurostat, EU's statistical service, on Tuesday.

The highest shares were found in Estonia, Sweden, Denmark, Latvia, France, Slovenia and Britain, where the rates exceeded 40 percent. Cyprus and Greece recorded the lowest shares of below 5 percent. The average rate was 31.6 percent, said Eurostat.

Population in the EU was estimated at 459.5 million on Jan. 1, 2005, a growth of 0.5 percent as compared to Jan.1, 2004, according to Eurostat.

The growth was attributed to net migration, which accounted for 83 percent of total growth.

In the same period, the population of the United States increased by 0.9 percent, Japan, 0.1 percent. In Russia it decreased by 0.5 percent. The world's two most populous countries recorded a population growth: China by 0.6 percent and India 1.4 percent, it said.

These figures come from a report published jointly by Eurostat and the Council of Europe.

The population increased in most EU member states. The largest increases were recorded in Cyprus (25.4 per 1,000), followed by Ireland and Spain. The largest population fall was recorded in Lithuania (-6.0 per 1,000), followed by Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Germany and Poland.

In 2004, net migration in the EU was 4.0 per 1,000 inhabitants. Cyprus, Spain and Ireland registered the highest rates. Positive net migration was recorded in all EU members except Lithuania, the Netherlands, Latvia, Estonia and Poland.

The fertility rate -- average number of children per woman -- is estimated to have increased from 1.48 in 2003 to 1.50 in 2004 in the EU. The corresponding rate for the United States in 2004 was 2.07.

The highest fertility rates were found in Ireland (1.99), followed by France (1.90), Finland (1.80) and Denmark (1.78). No member state, however, reached the replacement level of 2.1. The lowest fertility rates were found in Slovenia (1.22), followed by the Czech Republic and Poland (both 1.23), Latvia (1.24) and Slovakia (1.25).

Source: Xinhua