SOCIETY: Cyprus one of few EU states where majority of births are within marriage

Cyprus is one of the few EU Member States where most children are born within a marriage, in fact only 20% of births are registered among unmarried parents.

More than 80% of births in Cyprus, Greece and Croatia happened within marriage, according to Eurostat data for 2016.

According to Eurostat, in eight EU countries there were more live births registered outside marriage than within it: France (60%), Bulgaria and Slovenia (both 59 %), Estonia (56 %), Sweden (55 %), Denmark (54%), Portugal (53%) and the Netherlands (50%).

By contrast, more than 80% of live births were registered in the more religiously conservative countries of Greece, Croatia and Cyprus.

Between 2015 and 2016, extramarital births increased in almost every EU country except for Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and the UK.

In Bulgaria and Ireland there was no variation.

For Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the proportion of births outside marriage in 2016 was below 25%, compared to Norway (56%) and Iceland (70%).