A quarter of births last year was to unwed mothers, an increase of 9% over the previous year, NSO statistics issued today show.
The figures were issued to mark the International Day of Families, tomorrow.
The NSO said there were 141,390 households in Malta with a total of 403,560 persons. Sixty percent had no dependant children.
Of the households with dependant children, 7 percent were single parent households with at least one dependant child, while households with two adults having one dependant child and those with two dependant children accounted for 27 percent and 29 percent respectively .
There were 197,100 married persons, or 49 percent of the total number of persons living in .
The number of marriages in 2008 totalled 2,482, with the most common age for getting married being within the 25-29 age-group for both brides and grooms. This accounted for 43 per cent and 44 percent of the total marriages for brides and grooms respectively. Other significant counts were registered among the 20-24 age-group for brides (24 per cent) and 30-34 age-group for grooms (24 percent).
Total registered live births amounted to 4,127. The most common age-groups for mothers were the 25-29 and 30-34 year-old categories, accounting for 34 percent and 31 percent of the total respectively.
The most common age-group for fathers was between 30 and 34, at 35 percent of the total. This was followed by the 25-29 year-old age group, at 24 percent of the total.
A quarter of the total live births occurred outside marriage last year, with an increase of nearly 9 percent over 2007.
The NSO said the at-risk-of-poverty rate from was estimated at 14 per cent. This rate stood at 13 percent among persons living in households without dependant children and 15 per cent amongst those living in households with dependant children. Persons living in single parent households were found to be most at-risk-of-poverty.
Families benefited from a total of almost €625 million from social benefits during 2008, an increase of over 9 percent when compared to the previous year. Substantial increments were recorded in children's allowance, with an increase of €11 million, or 38 per cent, when compared to the previous year