I was asked a great question recently: 'What percentage of children born in the world have two married parents?'
To
give the right answer I first had to qualify the definition of 'two
married parents.' Did that include polygamous marriages with one
husband and multiple wifes, a common practice in Africa and the Middle
East? The response was 'Yes.The question came up because I have several grandchildren who were immaculately conceived (Invitro fertilization).
My answer will surprise you. Ninety five percent (95%) of children born in the world last year had two married parents.
That
number looks high when we know that for white Americans the percentage
is 70% and black Americans it is 30% with an average of 65% of American
children born with married parents. Many European countries have lower
percentages than the U.S. Denmark and France have 55% of children born
with married parents, and Sweden has only 40%.
In terms of
children born, the U.S., Canada, Europe and Russia are not very
significant. Which is why America and Europe are outlyers on this
issue.
Africa has 14% of the children born in the world, Latin
America has 9%, Asia, including China and India have 62%, the nations
of Japan, Philipines and the Middle East have 7% for a total of 92%. Nearly all the 92% have children born to two parents.
The remaining 8% of the world probably has close to half the children born to two married parents. That gives my estimate of 95% for the world, which is conservative.
Most of the world is traditional in having married parents of new born
children.