HispanicBusiness

A record number of unmarried women in the United States are having babies, and the rate is highest among Hispanic women, according to a new report.

Released Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics, the study concludes that nearly four in 10 U.S. births were to unmarried women in 2007. That's a 26 percent increase from 2002.

However, the report also shows that the proportion of unwed mothers who are teenagers is on the steep decline. Most out-of-wedlock births are to women in their 20s and 30s.

In all, there were about 1.7 million births to unwed mothers in 2007, up from 1.26 million in 2002, and less than 400,000 in 1970.

Eleven percent of unmarried Hispanic women had a baby in 2006, which represents a 20 percent jump from 2002. Meanwhile, 7 percent of unmarried black women, 3 percent of unmarried white women and 2.6 percent of unmarried Asian women had a baby in 2006, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, which is an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The percentage of unmarried white women who had a baby also went up in 2007, by 14 percent from 2002. The rate among unmarried black women also increased between 2002 and 2006, rising 9 percent, but in 2006 it was down slightly from 1995.

In 2007, less than a quarter of all unwed women who had a baby were teenagers. That's down from half of all out-of-wedlock births in 1970.

In the most recent study, 60 percent of unwed births were to women in their 20s; 17 percent were to women age 30 and up.

As for unwed teen mothers, while the percentage of all births is down, the total number is still up. In 1970, the figure was nearly 200,000; in 2007, it was nearly double that, at about 394,000.