A fifth of babies in Poland born outside wedlock

Photo: Glowimages

With 81,500 (21.2 percent) of babies born outside marriage of the overall 388,400 from 2010, the figures display a significant trend over the last two decades.

In 1990, just 6.2 percent of babies born in Poland were done so out of wedlock.

Speaking with the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily, sociologist Dr Piotr Szukalski noted that attitudes are changing dramatically in Poland.

“More and more young people live together before marriage,” he stressed.

“Such relationships are considered by us to be no worse than marriage,” he argued.

Nevertheless, divorce rates are also on the up in Poland, reflecting a further break with traditional Roman Catholic values.

Over the past few years, there have typically been between 60,000 and 70,000 divorces per year, about 40-65 percent more than 12 years ago. Statistics reveal that many divorced women later have children without remarrying.

According to the last figures released by Eurostat on the subject, some 37.4 percent of babies born across the EU in 2010 were done so outside wedlock.

The lowest ratio was in Greece, where just 6.9 percent were born outside marriage. Meanwhile, in countries such as France, Sweden, Slovenia and Bulgaria, the rate was over 50 percent. (nh)