Non-marital Fertility in Metropolises in Ukraine

Abstract

In Ukraine, the increasing share of children born out of marriage during the fi rst two decades of our country independence was in line with European trends and became consequence of the intensifi cation of the modernization process of many spheres of public life. In Ukraine, every fi ft h child is born out of wedlock, and this indicator is one of the lowest among European countries. Th ere are signifi cant diff erences in the prevalence of illegitimate births within the country between regions and settlements of diff erent types. Th e purpose of our study is comprehensive analysis of the peculiarities of childbearing out of marriage in the metropolises of Ukraine, its dynamics and structural characteristics. An in-depth analysis of illemethods are comparison, graphical presentation of analysis results, generalization methods, analogies. Lviv is a city with pronounced traditional matrimonial behavior and more strong preferences for classical family values and has the lowest share of children born out of marriage. Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Odesa are characterized by the relatively high level of out-ofwedlock births that can most likely be explained by more intensive demographic modernization and transformation. Th e decrease in the proportion of illegitimate births among all births is the general trend in the cities of Ukraine. In metropolises of our country the share of children born out of marriage is much lower than in the oblast of their location and other urban areas; except for Lviv, where the difference between the indicators is minimal. Compared to other settlements, the metropolises are characterized by smaller share of the youngest women among mothers who were not married at the childbearing moment and higher share of women 35 years and older. Metropolises have the same age profi le of the proportion of illegitimate births as other territories: the illegitimate births are the most common among women under 20 years of age, women of 25-29 years have the lowest share; among the women 30 years and older the share of births out of marriage gradually increases, but remains much lower than that for youngest mothers. Th e mean age of mother at the birth of child out of marriage is usually lower than similar indicator that takes into account all births. Th e mean age of mother at the birth of child out of marriage in the metropolises signifi cantly exceeds the corresponding indicators in the area of their location and in Ukraine as a whole. Structural diff erences in out-of-wedlock births refl ect changes in its factors in favor of “desired” motherhood.