Slight drop in ‘father unknown’ babies

A slight drop in the number of babies registered as “father unknown” has resulted since 2006, according to information supplied in Parliament by Minister Austin Gatt.

A table he presented when answering a question by Josè Herrera (PL) shows that there were 75 less newborns in 2010 that were registered as ‘father unknown’ than those in 2006.

Yet, the number of children born outside marriage has almost doubled since 2006, when 486 children being born to unmarried or legally separated parents and these increased to 860 in 2010.

The number of births to married couples has not varied greatly over these last five years, with the number ranging from 3,016 in 2006 to 2,908 in 2007, 3,088 in 2008, 3,009 in 2009 and 2,913 in 2010.

However, a 10 per cent increase since 2006 was indicated for births occurring outside marriage when compared to those occurring within marriage. In this regard, the rate of children born outside marriage compared to those born within marriage in 2006 was at 28.2 per cent.

This rate continued to increase to 40.1 per cent in 2009 and only decreased slightly in 2010 to 38.6 per cent. Of all the births registered in Malta since 2006, almost a third of births registered every year were children born outside marriage with the figures ranging from 22 per cent in 2006 to the highest rate of 28.6 per cent in 2009.

Children born to legally-separated mothers included those children whose father was indicated on their birth certificate but who were born to mothers who were legally separated or whose marriage was declared null less than 300 days from the birth of the child.

A number included as having been born outside marriage also included those births to mothers who although still married, the husband was absent from Malta throughout 300 days prior to the birth of the child and where the mother had not, in this period, travelled abroad. The highest number of such births occurred in 2009 with 867 children.