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Half of babies born in Portugal born to unmarried couples

Xinhua, April 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Over half of the babies born in Portugal last year were born to unwed couples, the Portuguese national institute of statistics (INE) revealed on Thursday.

According to the INE, in 2015, the percentage of births outside marriage rose to 50.7 percent, from 49.3 percent in 2014.

The rise was particularly influenced by a growing number of births outside marriage and without the parents cohabiting.

According to the figures, of around 50.7 percent of births outside marriage, in 16.3 percent of the cases, the baby's parents were not living together.

Debt-laden Portugal has been hit with a demographic problem amid a deep recession and emigration.

The country has one of the lowest fertility rates in Europe, with the number of births falling from 112,000 in 2001 to 82,000 in 2014.

The INE recently said that last year 85,778 babies were born, with the figure rising for the first time since 2010. Endit