Since 1970, out-of-wedlock birth rates have significantly increased in the United States. In 1965, 24% of black infants and 3.1% of white infants were born to single mothers, with rates rising to 64% for black infants and 18% for whites by 1990. The number of families with a single mother in the United States has increased since 1990, but the poverty rate of black families with a single mother has significantly risen. In 2020, there were roughly 4.25 million Black families in the United States with a single mother, an increase from 1990 rates.
Views on single motherhood differ somewhat by race and ethnicity. About half of White and Asian adults (49 each) say single women raising children alone is a challenge. Single black women who have had a child rose from 40% in 1970 to 49% in 1988. The rate of first births has risen, and in 2022, there were about 4.15 million Black families in the United States with a single mother. Today, 37 of black children are living in a home headed by their own two biological parents, while 48 are living in a home headed by a single parent.
The Guttmacher report published in 1990 reported that 117 pregnancies per 1,000 teenage girls, up from 105 per 1,000 in 1978. About 80 percent of African American children live with unmarried mothers, compared to 6.5% for other ethnic groups. By the 1990s, a great majority of black children were born to single-parent homes, with more than one-third of all Black children under the age of 18 living with unmarried mothers.
In conclusion, the rise in single-parent families in the United States has led to a higher percentage of African American children living with unmarried mothers, despite the welfare spending under the Great Society program.
📹 The Rise of Single Mothers in Black Households in America | Thomas Sowell
What percentage of single mothers were black in 1970?
The proportion of single-headed families with children among blacks has significantly increased from 18% in 1940 to 42% today, with white female-headed families having a higher percentage of 8. 3% in 1970 and 12. 6% today. The overall number for single-parent families is 19%. The proportion of children living with one parent has also increased significantly, from 9% in 1960 to 20% today, with 25 percent projected by 1990.
What race has the most Down syndrome?
Down syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, affects 5, 100 infants born annually in the United States. The condition occurs in all races and ethnicities, with small differences in live birth prevalence. Of the people with Down syndrome, 67 are non-Hispanic and White, 13 non-Hispanic and Black, 16 Hispanic, 3 Asian or Pacific Islander, and 1 American Indian or American Native. Racial differences exist in prenatal screening for Down syndrome, with Latinas and African American women being less likely to undergo prenatal diagnosis than White and Asian women. Economic and insurance barriers also impact decision-making, with unemployed and uninsured African American and Latino women being less likely to opt into prenatal testing.
A 1996 survey found that all women had some knowledge of Down syndrome, but misconceptions and beliefs varied among racial-ethnic groups. Many Hispanic and African American women reported only seeing or knowing of White people with Down syndrome and requested culturally diverse educational material. White women reported that pregnancy with Down syndrome was more common in women 35 years and older, and minority women reported that pregnancy with Down syndrome was due to environmental factors, drug use, and older age.
Many approaches to educate and address misinformation about Down syndrome exist, including standardized fact sheets, parent-friendly health information, evidence-based care, and policy statements from national professional organizations on best practices in delivering a diagnosis. Families report benefits from speaking to other parents of children with Down syndrome when receiving a prenatal or postnatal diagnosis, and Down syndrome parent groups often offer “first call” programs that provide information and direct parent-to-parent connections.
Has single motherhood increased?
Since the 1960s, the number of children living with a single parent in the United States has increased due to an increase in births to unmarried women and the prevalence of divorces among couples. In 2010, 40. 7 of births were to unmarried women, with 11 children living with unmarried parents, 15. 6 with divorced parents, and 1. 2 with widowed parents. The 2010 Census showed 27 children living with one parent, consistent with the emerging trend. The most recent data shows approximately 13.
7 million single parents in the US, with Mississippi leading the nation with the highest percentage of births to unmarried mothers. In 2006, 12. 9 million families in the US were headed by a single parent, with 80 of them being female.
What was the single motherhood rate in 1950?
In 1950, one in 20 children were born to unmarried mothers. By contrast, in the present era, the rate has increased to one in three, with a significant proportion of these births occurring to individuals who are least likely to be able to support a child independently.
What was the single mother rate in 1960?
In 1960, 5 million children under the age of 18 resided with their mother. By 1980, this figure had doubled, reaching 19 million. These findings are reported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Which country has the highest rate of single motherhood?
A new study by the Pew Research Center reveals that the US has the highest rate of single parent families globally, with nearly a quarter of children under 18 living in a single-parent household. This rate is higher than any of the 130 other countries and territories surveyed. The average rate of single parenthood is 7% globally, under a third of the US rate. Over 80% of American children in single-parent households live with their mother only, a trend that is growing.
One factor contributing to the high rates of single-parent households in the US is the lack of multi-generational households, with only 8% of children living with relatives, 30% less than the average across other countries.
How were single mothers treated in the 1950s?
In American society, being single and pregnant was considered unacceptable, especially for white women. Girls who got in trouble were often forced to drop out of school and sent away to distant relatives or homes. Unwed mothers paid a significant price for premarital sex, but young women were engaging in premarital sex despite societal pressure to remain virgins. There was a growing need for easy, safe, effective, reliable, and female-controlled contraceptives.
Marriage was common, with most brides being pregnant within seven months of their wedding. From 1940 to 1960, the number of families with three children doubled and the number of families having a fourth child quadrupled. The era of the “happy homemaker” was also prevalent, with women encouraged to stay at home if the family could afford it. Women who chose to work were often considered selfish, putting themselves before their family’s needs.
What race has the highest single mother rate?
From 1995 to 2018, the prevalence of single motherhood was highest among Black children, followed by Latino children and White children, with a mean prevalence of 45. 2, 21. The figures are 8, 13, and 19. 6, respectively.
What is the single motherhood rate in Africa?
The probability of becoming a single mother by the age of 45 is high in all countries, with Ethiopia exhibiting the highest likelihood at 30%. The probability of becoming a single mother by the age of 45 is 0, followed by Kenya at 59. Malawi has the fifth-highest probability at 61%. The probability of becoming a single mother by the age of 45 is 0 in Tanzania and 51 in Tanzania. Furthermore, the rates are 7 in Zimbabwe and 68 in Zimbabwe. 8.
What percentage of single mothers are Black in the UK?
The 2011 Census revealed that the white ethnic group accounted for 97. 7% of households with a pensioner couple and 86. 0% of the general population of England and Wales. Asian households comprised 21. 2 of other households with dependent children, 20. 6 of all-student households, and 10. 8 of those with a married couple with dependent children. The Asian ethnic group made up 7. 5 of the general population. The black ethnic group made up 8. 3 of single-parent households with dependent children and 8. 1 of other households with dependent children.
White households comprised 32. 9 of white households, 30. 9 of one-person households, 10. 3 of cohabiting couples, 10. 2 of single-parent families, and 8. 9 of pensioner couples. Asian households comprised 47. 0 of married couples or civil partners, 17. 0 of one-person households, and 31. 7 of black households. Mixed ethnic households comprised 35. 2 of households, 19. 9 of married couples or civil partners, and 19. 1 of single-parent families.
White households made up 83. 5 of those with dependent children and 86. 0 of the general population of England and Wales. Asian households made up 8. 9 of those with dependent children, and black households made up 4. 8 of those with dependent children. Mixed and other ethnic groups made up 1. 6 and 1. 2 of those with dependent children, respectively.
When did single motherhood increase?
The percentage of children living with single parents in the United States has significantly increased over the second half of the 20th century, with 28 children living with single parents in 2012, according to a 2013 Child Trends study. The main causes of single parent families are high rates of divorce and non-marital childbearing. The United States has the world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households, with 80 of single parents being mothers.
Among these mothers, 45 are currently divorced or separated, 1. 7 are widowed, and 34 never have been married. This is in contrast to earlier decades when having a child outside of marriage and being a single mother was not prominent. Today, four out of every ten children are born to an unwed mother.
📹 Surprising Truths Behind The Rise of Single Black Parents | Thomas SowellTV
FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted (©) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized …
I worked in corrections for 20 years. In prison it was astonishing how many black men never knew their father, I’d say 90% of the men we had. White men in most cases had but that relationship was abusive many times but they were still around. We had 5 black men, all half brothers but only one knew who the father was because he had been given his name. We ran his name and that man had been in our prison at one time. The mother would come visit her boys one after another, it was heartbreaking. Boys need fathers.
We can blame slavery, Apartheid, our governments, our culture. The real problem is not the skin but the mindset. We as black Africans & Americans need faith. Faith is all about making right decisions. From friends to colleagues. From dating too marriage. Every second we have a thought and every second we have the opportunity to correct the wrongs of our society but more importantly our conscience. I was raised by a single mother, I am married with 3 children, divorce is not an option. Neither is hitting my wife 4 submission.
I am a retired social worker. I chose to work in the mental health system rather than the social (child protection and others). In grad school for my MSW I was told that much of the problem was how the “Great Society” program was implemented. Single parent (female ) families were eligible for more government programs than those who were 2 parent families. In the low income areas men walked away from their families because their families were better off with them gone. Homes were often visited unannounced to check if the father lived there.
The problem was a combination of ” feminism”; telling women that they don’t need a man and an appalling lack of knowledge about the Bible and it’s standards. Unfortunately in many churches, the TRUE Gospel is not taught. Many Biblically illiterate people, are drawn to the wealth and prosperity gospel, or ” name it and claim it” but they are not told about the standards that the God of our Bible puts forth. It was HIS intention that a man and a woman come together as husband and wife and raise children in a cohesive, spiritually solid unit known as a family. Single parenthood, was indicative of our fallen, sinful world because in times past, if you were a single parent, that mean’t that either your spouse died, or they abandoned you. Now society sees single parenthood, as something to be embraced and celebrated. As a 59 year old black woman, whose been a Christian for 29 years, I try to tell young woman, to save themselves for marriage. If that man is truly interested in you, then he will honor your desire to remain pure for your wedding night. Do not give in to his threats to leave you if you don’t sleep with him. If that’s the case, then he wasn’t someone who would do right by you and you’re better off without him. The government doesn’t help when they impose what’s called a ” marriage penalty tax”. They should be ENCOURAGING marriage, not penalizing it but they’ve drawn many women into the welfare realm with easy money and lies. They tell women;” get pregnant and have the babies, just don’t get married” 😮.
Rewarding victimhood and moral failure, begets more of that low behavior. Whereas charity given with the expectation of improving status through reform and achievement serve to replace victimhood mentality with pride of achievement and further progression. This is why Government welfare will always hurt those who it claims to help and private charities and church groups will have the desired outcomes for improving individuals and families life’s. True charity is a blessing to the recipient AND the giver. Because it is on a personal level not a bureaucratic level.
one of the side effects of this toxic culture we have, i cant even say how sad it makes me to see black amricans railroaded into this poor version of society, without sounding either fake or woke. but im old enough to remember when blacks in America were on the rise and had hope and plans for thier future.. when it SEEMED like the nation was healing and becoming unified. its so sad to see how much that isnt true anymore..
Until the Black culture changes, the poverty and crime that is endemic to Black communities will never be undone. This has to start with a revitalization of faith and family. True faith, mind you, not liberation theology or “feel good” sermons that don’t actually demand sacrifices of the hearers to better themselves.
I’ve been a teacher at the same elementary school for 20+ years- I am now teaching the children of some of my former students- One one my former students has 7 children- She had her first when she was 14😢 Multiple fathers- She’s one of many I’ve seen in this cyclical system- There’s no shame in it- They visit me and share what # pregnancy they are on- I see history repeating itself- They have the same struggles their moms went through- It is so sad to see
I saw a guy bragging that he was 23 and had 16 kids. You see all of these guys that are in their early 20’s and have a dozen kids each. Women seem to think it is cool somehow to be a baby mama raising their kids without him with his dozen or so baby mamas. This is not cool. It is not cool to have 4 kids by 4 different guys.
My white friend’s sister is totally dependent on UK welfare state. Gov gives her thousands – free 2 bed flat for life, free white goods, free home reno, free car. She just says she’s mentally unwell, ticked a few boxes, and now she’s living the life. This female has absolutely no desire to raise herself.
With ease and precision,Thomas Sowell throws no hitters when dealing with yesterday’s,today’s and tomorrow’s progressive ideologues. My father taught me about objective reasoning at a young age and I’m so grateful for such a discipline in a time like today. Mr. Sowell is the highest level of this I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime. Which some might say is a just a blink and others might think I’m near petrified.
In the early 1980’s in South Carolina, single motherhood was a money making proposition. Women got pregnant to collect the free welfare money. There were men that “charged” women a percentage of their welfare to get her pregnant and would wait across the street for the baby mama to collect her money and pay them their share.
The same is happening with native American Indians. Marriage was considered the core value of family life but that belief is no longer valued or completely forgotten as mainstream values and ideology of independence of women has taken over. This has placed tremendous strain on relationships and the connection is broken.
The disintegration of the black family can be explained by the rule that a household could not receive welfare for dependent children if there was an “able-bodied” male living in the household. It did not matter if the man was related to the children or not. It is simply disingenuous to suggest programs to defeat poverty were the reason and not the contingencies placed on receipt of the benefits of those programs by conservatives.
Birth rates are down in Black America. The numbers have been dropping for decades. I don’t know why they always talk about our numbers when in the USA all numbers are down. They go to prisons and talk to inmates who had single mothers but never to colleges and talk to students who had single mothers. But the numbers are going to continue to fall. If you talk to young women they would rather get a pet. You can become single due to divorce or death. It’s always implied that there was never a family unit.
Is it fair to say that they are not using their brain power? Don’t they control their urges or have the ability to use protection? Before anyone says anything ‘nasty’ or ‘rude’ about this comment, I’m a black female myself. Folks have got to understand what these loose actions result in. Unwanted pregnancy, poverty and disease.
Why so many single mothers? Because they know their Democratic overlords will provide them with cradle to grave welfare. No incentive to get off, but great to keep having more children. Ex. One of my students had two children in high school. Sperm donors, no financial support. The state paid for her to take a taxi to her university classes while the two children were in state paid for daycare. When she graduated she had two additional children. The state paid for her to continue on with her education, and she got a M in Social Work. She also had another two children during the Masters’ program. When she finished her two degrees, she announced that she had to remain at home and care for her children. She never went to work, never looked for a job. I ran into her a year ago. She’s a grandmother now (welfare in the next generation), and she had an additional two children post grad school. She still entertains the stream of men who come through her apartment, and she’s sticking it to the taxpayers for a huge family that she never had any intention to support. She refused to use birth control—-she claimed it wasn’t “safe” for her because of her “delicate constitution.”
———————————————————————————————————- I read one of Sowell’s books about 20 years ago. In the chapter on school choice, Sowell said choice would allow a student in a poor school the opportunity to go to a better school. But, in the chapter on government subsidized housing, he said that the poor families that moved into a better neighborhood would send their kids to the better school and those kids would reduce the quality of education in those better schools. Now, it is odd how a student from a poor school, and possibly a poor neighborhood, could choose to attend a better school and all is fine and dandy. But let the family of that same student move into a better neighborhood and that same student would reduce the quality of education in the better school. Funny that.
Black men and women could not get well paying jobs. Most were relegated to menial jobs of janitors, maids, shoeshine boys etc. this was at a time when whites got skilled union jobs, with unemployment, social security and pensions to go along with their government handout FHA loans in new suburbs built exclusively for them. When the manufacturing econimyb started to collapse in 1960s they were the first laid off. All this economic stress will put a strain on marriages and make ppl think they should go it alone.
Fully disagree! Check out Germany, France, and Scandinavian countries! Tons more social programs and government support but many fewer single parents! There are other underlying reasons. It’s always easier to point the finger. Time to get to the bottom of it. My hunch is irresponsible sex, selfishness, uncommitted relationships, etc.
What he does not mention is the much higher percentages of black males being incarcerated for similar offenses that white males are not incarcerated for as being a factor. Black males are incarcerated more often and for longer sentences than white males for similar offenses. Increased incarceration makes for increased single parenthood.
We lived in Virginia beach in the 80s in navy housing. I loved it because we were all mixed together like a bag of all different sweeties. We had Hispanics, native Americans, whites, Filipinos, blacks and it made it a very varied & interesting neighborhood. I still miss it to this day. We were all pretty much on an equal footing because we had the same houses, each household had someone serving in the military. We rode the same school bus. It was a great leveler. Maybe housing areas should be linked to jobs. That is what the Quakers did during the industrial revolution. Maybe there are too many people in the world for that way of life nowadays. 🤷🏼♀️
A lot of “blame the government” rhetoric here but that’s a simple explanation for a complicated story. For example, big corporations began offshoring jobs beginning after WWII. Our former enemies, in Japan and Germany, started making our cars, cameras and t.v.’s. so that their economies would prosper preventing a WWIII. Corporate profits were immense and soon almost all manufacturing went to “greener pastures”. Immigration from Central and South America and Asia has been prevalent for a half century. A lot of laborers translates to lower wages; a simple matter of supply and demand. Both American and immigrant labor are negatively effected but employers enjoy higher profits when labor costs are low. So, if you find yourself at the top of society in the hiring class, you win; if you’re at the bottom, you lose. Historically, a group climbs the economic ladder one rung at a time from the bottom up. To go from a culture of disadvantage to educated elite is mostly a multi-generational process beginning with steady employment on the lower rungs. With recessions that last for years (after 8-10 years of relative prosperity) and with costs that outpace wages, upward mobility from lower classes to higher doesn’t happen. Most people will live and die in the economic class into which they were born.
The ghetto culture actually preceded the 1960s. Already in the 1950s youth gangs were a problem in black urban areas. The rise of single motherhood actually began in the 1940s and steadily rose throughout the 1950s from less than 9% to 20% by 1960. Nation of Islam with its race based bullishness taking away personal responsibility and imputing everything to race and genetics, was many times bigger in the 1940s and 1950s than it is today in fact it was already going in the 1930s and had widespread support. Racialist identity politics are a hallmark of ghetto culture and even though blacks had every right to defend themselves from violence the racialist cults laid the foundations for the destruction of family and personal responsibility as well as the identity politics that made these things possible. This was already very much in effect in large swaths of the black population during the 1920s. I therefore say that the real father of the ghetto culture was Marcus Garvey who got this mentality going so the ghetto culture actually got started in 1917 though precursors to it in the pseudo Islamic and fake Hebrew movements actually were there before him. The only thing that can safe black America is the old fashioned pure Gospel culture of their ancestors. It was no nonsense, no excuses, immersed in black society and black culture but not not identity politics in fact they aspired to get away from that and move toward an equal just society like what the founding fathers envisioned. Only that pure Gospel culture can save black America but if your pastor preaches identity politics he’s a fake.
I don’t have problems with who or what they sleep with, but they need to stand up and man up. In the 70’s the lion’s share of black folks worked in the auto industry and had both dad and mom that raised their children as a family. You can all the children you can afford and give them a safe place to live. You pay for yours and I will pay for mine.
In the late 1800’s blacks were predominately republican, and becoming more successful with each generation. Then came the depression and all suffered, but more so blacks. Democrats promised to help in the form of welfare, and so the racist party put the chains back on the blacks, and that is also when blacks turned democrat – vote how the m’asta vote- been downhill ever since for the black families… VOTE REPUBLICAN!!
In the 1940 Census, the demographic with the highest % of two-parent families was the blacks. Welfare, as it was designed, provided incentives to get rid of the father, and to have more kids. It also provided disincentives for getting a job. Today, of course, the black demographic has the lowest % of two-parent families, although all demographics have lower %’s now than in 1940. Milton Friedman first proposed his Negative Income Tax idea for replacing the welfare system in an essay in 1943. 80 years later it’s still ignored for political reasons.
Low wages, joblessness, crime, high jncarceration and ghetto life limits black men who can’t provide fir their families which forces the women to go on welfare which for years did not allow fathers living in the home. Give Black men good job training and education with transferable in demand skills and black families will get out of poverty. It worked for me and every Black male in my family that took advantage of the opportunity. Problem is the wider Black community has not emphasized this enough.
Being a single mother should have never been a prerequisite for getting financial help. Now it’s politically incorrect to even use the term “broken home”, as if single motherhood is supposed to be normal. It’s one thing for the government to help people temporarily, when needed, but it’s absurd that it has become a way of life.
Dr Sewell, I understand the data, high % black children born to unmarried mothers. But the claim is that these children therefore are growing up in a house with no father. Its plausible the father is present, and in a de facto relationship. Do you have any stats on actual fatherless homes, rather than % unwed mothers, which may not be a reasonable proxy?