Nearly one in ten of babies were born to parents living apart last year, according to official figures from the UK, a third lower than the equivalent Irish figure.

Of the 706,248 births in England and Wales last year, 68,251 were when the parents listed different addresses on the birth certificate, the equivalent of 9.7 per cent.

By comparison, of the 73,833 births registered in Ireland last year, 10,885 children were born to parents who did not have the same address, the equivalent of 14.7 per cent, according to figures from the CSO quarterly reports.

The figures from the UK’s Office for National Statistics indicate this percentage has dramatically increased in just the last ten years. A decade ago it was just under seven per cent, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Experts warned that the recent spike in the number of babies born to parents living apart could lead to problems for the children. They also expressed concern that in some cases the parents, though committed, were unable to be together because of ‘marriage penalties caused by the tax and benefits system.

Jill Kirby, director of Centre for Policy Studies, said: “These statistics suggest that mothers are increasingly going it alone from the very start. This will mean many children will end up deprived of a father figure.”

Studies have suggested that children growing up in a single person household are more likely to struggle at school and suffer from mental health problems.

A separate ONS report has indicated one-fifth of those living with a divorced, separated or widowed parent suffered from at least one disorder. In contrast, only 8 per cent of boys living with married parents suffered from mental disorders.

Samantha Callan, director at the Centre for Social Justice, said: “Most single parents don’t chose to be so. We are very concerned at the link between the lack of a strong family unit and poverty.

“You are more likely to grow up in poverty, have lower academic levels of achievements and negative outcomes in general if you grow up in a single person household.”

The Centre has blamed the Working Families Tax Credit as a key reason why many parents decide not to live together. It has calculated that approximately 1.8 million low-earning couples are materially worse off than their single parent counterparts, losing on average £1,336 a year because they live together.

Though some parents who live apart go on to cohabit and possibly marry, research suggests the majority drift apart.

Based on a major study into about 15,000 children born between 2000 and 2002, the University of Birmingham found that 60 per cent of parents who did not live together but were a couple, had split up before their child’s fifth birthday.

Meanwhile, the figures also showed that nearly half of all babies are born out of wedlock, official figures have indicated, almost double the rate compared with 20 years ago.

The proportion of children born to unmarried mothers hit a record 46 per cent last year, the ONS data said

This was up from 45 per cent in 2008, 25 per cent in 1988 and just 11 per cent in 1979.

The Millennium Cohort study, sponsored by the Government, has calculated that parents are more likely to split up if they are not married.

It showed that 35 per cent of children whose parents cohabit, rather than are married, live in a single-parent household.

This compares with just 9 per cent of married couples who had split up by the time their child was five.

In 2009, 326,069 of the total 706,711 births were outside of marriage.

The figures also showed that half of these babies born last year were to mothers over the age of 30, with a boom in babies born to those over the age of 45.

Official figures, published on Thursday, underlined the substantial change in motherhood in a generation, with women increasingly delaying childbirth.

Last year 47 per cent of all births were to a woman aged 30 or over, up from 45 per cent in 1999 and 28 per cent in 1988.

The ONS figures also indicated that women over the age of 45, once considered a dangerous age to give birth, have dramatically increased. Back in 1988 just 507 births, or a mere 0.07 per cent, were to women aged 45 or older. Last year, this figure had climbed to 1,619 births, or 0.23 per cent.