Marriage & Poverty: Maryland

Marriage:Maryland’s No. 1 Weapon

AgainstChildhood Poverty

How the Collapse of Marriage Hurts Childrenand Three Steps to Reverse the Damage

A Heritage Foundation Book of Charts • January 2012

Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society

Growth of Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing in Maryland, 1929–2010

PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK

heritage.orgChart 1 • Marriage and Poverty in Maryland

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

41.9%40.8%

NationalMaryland

Note: Data on non-marital births in Maryland are unavailable between 1940 and 1979. However, all states that have data for this period had rates which parallel the national trend shown in the chart. In these states, the non-marital birth rates remained low until the onset of the federal War on Poverty in the mid-1960s, and then began to rise steadily. The Maryland unwed birth rate between 1943 and 1979 very likely parallels the overall national trend.

Sources: U.S. Government, U.S. Census Bureau, and National Center for Health Statistics.

In 2010, a record 41.9 percent of children in Maryland were born outside marriage. This is very high by historic standards. Before World War II, only seven percent of children in Maryland were born outside marriage. By 1980, the number had risen to 25 percent.

In Maryland, Marriage Drops the Probability of Child Poverty by 89 Percent

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2007–2009 data.

sChart 2 • Marriage and Poverty in Maryland

PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN THAT ARE POOR

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5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Single-Parent, Female-Headed

Families

Married, Two-Parent Families

22.4%

2.5%

The rapid rise in out-of-wedlock childbearing is a major cause of high levels of child pov-erty in Maryland.

Some 22.4 percent of single mothers with children were poor compared to 2.5 percent of mar-ried couples with children.

Single-parent families with children are nine times more likely to be poor than families in which the parents are married.

The higher poverty rate among single-mother families is due both to the lower education levels of the mothers and the lower income due to the absence of the father.

In Maryland, One-Third of All Families with Children Are Not Married



65.3%

34.7%

Unmarried Families

Married Families

Overall, married couples head about two-thirds of families with children in Maryland. One-third are single-parent families.

In Maryland, 81 Percent of Poor Families with Children Are Not Married



19.2%

80.8%

Unmarried Families

Married Families

Among poor families with children in Maryland, eight in ten are not married. By contrast, only 19.2 percent of poor families with children are headed by married couples.

In Maryland, Few Unwed Births Occur to Teenagers

Note: Figures have been rounded.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008 NHS data.


PERCENTAGE OF OUT-OF-WEDLOCK BIRTHS BY AGE OF MOTHER

Age18–19:12.6%

Age20–24:35.3%

Age25–29:24.6%

Age30–54:21.1%

UnderAge 18:6.4%

Out-of-wedlock births are often confused erroneously with teen births, but only 6.4 percent of out-of-wedlock births in Maryland occur to girls under age 18.

By contrast, some 73 percent of out-of-wedlock births occur to young adult women between the ages of 18 and 29.

Less-Educated Women Are More Likely to Give Birth Outside of Marriage


PERCENTAGE OF BIRTHS THAT ARE MARITAL OR OUT OF WEDLOCK

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10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

High School Dropout

(0–11Years)

High School Graduate

(12Years)

SomeCollege(13–15Years)

College Graduate

(16+Years)

65.2%

54.5%

42.0%

8.1%

34.8%

45.5%

58.0%

91.9%

Mother’s education level

Unmarried Mothers

Married Mothers

Unwed childbearing occurs most frequently among the women who will have the greatest difficulty sup-porting children by themselves: those with low levels of education.

In the U.S., among women who are high school dropouts, about 65.2 percent of all births occur outside marriage. Among women who have only a high school diploma, well over half of all births occur outside mar-riage. By contrast, among women with at least a college degree, only 8.1 percent of births are out of wed-lock.

Note: Specific data on out-of-wedlock births and maternal education are not available in Maryland. However, the pattern varies little between states. Maryland data will be very similar to the national data presented in this chart.


Both Marriage and Education Are Highly Effective in Reducing Child Poverty in Maryland



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10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

High School Dropout

High School Graduate

SomeCollege

College Graduate

44.3%

9.8%

26.6%

3.9%

17.3%

1.8%

7.2%

1.1%

Note: Virtually none of the heads of families in the chart who are high school dropouts are minor teenagers.

The poverty rate of married couples with children is dramati-cally lower than the rate for house-holds headed by single parents. This is true even when the married couple is compared to single par-ents with the same education level.

For example, in Maryland, the poverty rate for a single mother who has only a high school diploma is 26.6 percent, but the poverty rate for a married couple family headed by an individual who, similarly, has only a high school degree is far lower at 3.9 percent.

On average, marriage drops the poverty rate by around 84 percent among families with the same education level.

PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN THAT ARE POOR

Poverty Rate of Families by Education and Marital Status of the Head of Household

Single Married

Unwed Birth Rates Vary Strongly by Race in Maryland



PERCENT OF BIRTHS THAT ARE OUT OF WEDLOCK

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10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

All Races White Non-

Hispanic

Hispanic BlackNon-

Hispanic

42.4%

26.7%

57.1%

64.2%

8.3%

Out-of-wedlock childbearing varies considerably by race.

In 2008 (the most recent year for which racial breakdown is available), over four in ten births (42.4 percent) in Maryland occurred outside marriage.

The rate was lowest among white non-Hispanics. Among that group about one in four births (26.7 percent) were non-marital.

Among Hispanics, about six in ten births (57.1 percent) were to unmarried women. Among black non-Hispanics, almost two-thirds of births (64.2 percent) were out of wedlock.

Racial Composition of All Births and Out-of-Wedlock Births in Maryland

ALL BIRTHS OUT-OF-WEDLOCK BIRTHS



Note: Figures have been rounded.

46.1% White Non-Hispanic

Asian/Other

Black Non-Hispanic

Hispanic

33.6%

13.6%18.4%

6.7%

29.1%

50.9%

1.6%

In Maryland in 2008, some 46.1 percent of all births occurred to non-Hispanic whites, 33.6 percent occurred to non-Hispanic blacks, and 13.6 percent occurred to Hispanics.

Because blacks and Hispanics are more likely to have children without being married, they account for disproportionately larger shares of all out-of-wedlock births.

In Maryland in 2008, 50.9 per-cent of all non-marital births were to black non-Hispanic women, 29.1 percent were to non-Hispanic white women, and 18.4 percent were to Hispanic women.

Non-Married White Families Are Eight Times More Likely to Be Poor in Maryland



PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES THAT ARE POOR

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2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

Married Families Non-Married Families

1.7%

14.3%

Marriage leads to lower poverty rates for whites, blacks, and His-panics.

For example, in 2009, the pov-erty rate for married white families in Maryland was 1.7 percent. But the poverty rate for non-married white families was nearly eight times higher at 14.3 percent.

Non-Married Black Families Are Seven Times More Likely to Be Poor in Maryland

In 2009, the poverty rate for married black couples in Maryland was 2.6 percent, while the poverty rate for non-married black families was seven times higher at 19 percent.




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16%

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20%


2.6%

19.0%

Non-Married Hispanic Families Are Four Times More Likely to Be Poor in Maryland

In 2009, the poverty rate for Hispanic married families in Maryland was 4.7 percent, while the poverty rate among non-married families was over four times higher at 20.1 percent.




0%

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25%


4.7%

20.1%

Three Steps to Reduce Child Poverty through Marriage

1) Provide information on the benefits of marriage in reducing child poverty and improving child well-being.

2) Reduce anti-marriage penalties in means-tested welfare programs.

3) Promote life-goal-planning, marriage-strengthening, and divorce-reduction programs to increase healthy marriages and reduce divorce and separation.

Marriage is a highly effective institution which greatly decreases parental and child poverty while improving long-term outcomes for children. Conversely, the absence of marriage greatly increases welfare costs and imposes added burdens on taxpayers.

Unfortunately, almost no information on these topics is available in low-income communities. This information deficit should be corrected in the following manner:

• Explain the benefits of marriage in middle and high schools with a high proportion of at-risk youth;

• Create public education campaigns in low-income communities on the benefits of marriage; and,

• Require federally funded birth control clinics to provide information on the benefits of marriage and the skills needed to develop stable families to interested low-income clients.

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Marriage & Poverty: Maryland