Bastards, Worldwide

Bastards, Worldwide Across much of the world, long-standing norms around marriage and family formation are changing. In many countries, having children outside of marriage has become increasingly common, while in others it remains rare. This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Niccolo Conte, shows countries ranked by the share of children born outside of marriage using the latest available data from the OECD Family Database. Latin America Leads by a Wide Margin Colombia leads with 87% of children born outside marriage, followed by Chile, Costa Rica, and Mexico—all above 70%. In much of the region, cohabitation has long been socially accepted and legally recognized, reducing the importance of formal marriage. Historical inequality and lower access to legal institutions have also played a role in shaping these patterns over time. Rank Country Children born outside marriage (%) 1 🇨🇴 Colombia 87.0 2 🇨🇱 Chile 78.1 3 🇨🇷 Costa Rica 74.0 4 🇲🇽 Mexico 73.7 5 🇮🇸 Iceland 69.4 6 🇳🇴 Norway 61.2 7 🇧🇬 Bulgaria 59.7 8 🇵🇹 Portugal 59.5 9 🇫🇷 France 58.5 10 🇸🇪 Sweden 57.5 11 🇸🇮 Slovenia 56.5 12 🇩🇰 Denmark 54.7 13 🇪🇪 Estonia 53.8 14 🇧🇪 Belgium 52.4 15 🇪🇸 Spain 50.0 16 🇳🇿 New Zealand 48.4 17 🇫🇮 Finland 48.4 18 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 47.6 19 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 47.1 20 🇳🇱 Netherlands 42.1 21 🇸🇰 Slovak Republic 41.6 22 🇮🇹 Italy 40.5 23 🇦🇹 Austria 40.0 24 🇺🇸 United States 40.0 25 🇦🇺 Australia 39.9 26 🇱🇺 Luxembourg 39.0 27 🇮🇪 Ireland 38.4 28 🇱🇻 Latvia 37.3 29 🇷🇴 Romania 33.9 30 🇩🇪 Germany 33.1 31 🇨🇦 Canada 29.0 32 🇵🇱 Poland 28.7 33 🇨🇭 Switzerland 27.7 34 🇱🇹 Lithuania 27.3 35 🇭🇷 Croatia 26.1 36 🇭🇺 Hungary 24.4 37 🇨🇾 Cyprus 21.2 38 🇬🇷 Greece 9.7 39 🇮🇱 Israel 8.6 40 🇰🇷 Korea 4.7 41 🇹🇷 Türkiye 3.1 42 🇯🇵 Japan 2.4 -- Dataset Average 42.3 Nordic Countries Redefine Family Norms Several Nordic countries also report high shares of non-marital births, including Iceland (69%), Norway (61%), Sweden (58%), and Denmark (55%). Unlike Latin America, these trends are closely tied to strong welfare states and legal protections for children regardless of parents’ marital status. Cohabiting couples often enjoy rights similar to married ones, making marriage a personal choice rather than an economic necessity. Lower Rates Persist in Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean At the other end of the spectrum are countries such as Japan (2.4%), Korea (4.7%), Türkiye (3.1%), Israel (8.6%), and Greece (9.7%). In these societies, marriage remains closely linked to childbearing due to cultural expectations, religious traditions, and legal frameworks. Social stigma and limited support for single parents further discourage having children outside of marriage. Anglo and Western European Countries Sit in the Middle Countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and much of Western Europe fall between these extremes. Around 40% of children in the U.S. are born outside marriage, a similar share to Austria and Italy. If you enjoyed today’s post, check out The World Has Passed Peak Child on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist. Tyler Durden Sun, 02/15/2026 - 21:35

By Tyler Durden