Under a third of the babies born in Romania in 2016, namely 31.3%, were born to unmarried parents, this being one of the lowest proportions of live births outside marriage in the EU, according to data from the European statistical office Eurostat.

Only six EU Member States had lowest shares than Romania, namely Italy – 28%, Lithuania – 27.4%, Poland – 25%, Cyprus – 19.1%, Croatia – 18.9%, and Greece – 9.4%.

On the other hand, with six in every ten babies born to unmarried parents, France had the largest proportion (59.7%) of live births outside marriage in the EU in 2016. Next in the top were Bulgaria and Slovenia (both 58.6%), followed by Estonia - 56.1%, Sweden - 54.9% and Denmark - 54%.

Over 5.1 million babies were born in the European Union (EU) in 2016, and in eight of the 28 Member States the majority of babies were born outside marriage. Meanwhile, in eight other member States two-thirds of babies were born to married parents, Eurostat data shows.

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Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com