Cork city has passed out Limerick city as having the highest number births out of marriage, new official figures show.
The Quarterly Vital Statistics report, released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that nearly half, 47 percent, of all births in Cork city in the third quarter of last year were outside marriage. 
In Limerick, which now has the second highest rate, 46 per cent of all births were to unmarried people.
The report also showed that 17 per cent of all births were to cohabiting couples, compared to 68 per cent of births to married couples. The balance were to lone mothers.
According to UK figures, married couples provide a far more stable environment in which to raise a child.
Data from the British Milennium Cohort Study shows that only 35 per cent of British children born into a cohabiting union will live with both parents throughout their childhood, compared with 70 per cent born to married couples.
In addition, the average length in Britain of a marriage that ends in divorce is 11.5 years compared with just two years for a live-in relationship. Irish data also shows that only 25 per cent of cohabiting couples are still cohabiting after seven years. The result have either broken up or married.
According to today’s CSO report, while a majority of children in the third quarter of last year were still born into married families, a clear majority of children born to mothers aged between 20 and 24 are born to unmarried parents.
The figures show that 76 per cent of births in this age group are outside marriage. Thirty two per cent of births in this age cohort are to cohabiting couples.
More than four in ten (41 per cent) children born to mothers aged 25-29 are born to unmarried parents. Twenty five per cent of children born to mothers in this age cohort were born into a cohabiting couple.