More than three quarters of African American births are to unmarried women, nearly double the illegitimacy rate of all other births, according to new federal data.

The National Center for Health Statistics said that in 2015, 77.3 percent of non-immigrant black births were illegitimate. The national non-immigrant average is 42 percent, and it was 30 percent for whites.

The new numbers were in a Center for Immigration Studies analysis on the births to immigrants. That total is 32.7 percent, but to Hispanic immigrants it is 48.9 percent, according to Steven Camarota, the director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies.



Camarota calculated a huge rise in births to single Hispanic immigrants, something that could have a societal impact.

From his report:

Immigrants account for a large share of births in the United States. Almost one in four births (22.6 percent) in 2015 were to foreign-born mothers. As recently as 1990 it was just 7.9 percent. As a share of all births, the figure for 2015 may be the in highest American history. In 1910, the last peak in immigration, immigrants accounted for 21.9 percent of births...

Combining data by marital status with education provides an important perspective on the challenges children born to immigrant mothers may face. There is good evidence that children born to unmarried parents are at higher risk of dropping out of high school, having run-ins with the law, and other negative social outcomes. This maybe especially true for children born to immigrants because of the challenges associated with adjusting to life in their parents' adopted country. Traditionally, immigrants have relied on strong families to navigate life in a new land. The educational attainment of parents is also a good predictor of a child's likely educational level and other socio- economic outcomes later in life.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com