Births outside marriage
Share of live births to parents not married to each other, 2025
In 2025, 52.3% of babies in the eastern states were born to parents who were not married to each other — 1.8 times the western share of 28.4% (Berlin: 43.9%). Every eastern state is above every western state. In 62 of the 75 eastern districts most babies are born outside marriage; in the West that is true of none. The highest shares are in Uckermark (63.3%), Mansfeld-Südharz (62.6%) and Prignitz (60.7%), the lowest in Tuttlingen (17.0%), Böblingen (17.6%) and Kaiserslautern district (18.5%). The gap predates unification: in 1989 Destatis' series put the share at 33.6% in East Germany and 10.2% in the West; in 1991 it was 41.2% in the eastern states and 10.7% in the West.
Inner-German border 1949–1990 ·401 districts · 2025
Former West
28.4%
excl. Berlin
Former East
52.3%
excl. Berlin
Berlin
43.9%
Germany
31.7%
The East's figure is 1.8× the West's (2025).
By state
- Sachsen-Anhalt55.5%
- Mecklenburg-Vorpommern53.7%
- Brandenburg51.4%
- Thüringen51.3%
- Sachsen51.2%
- Berlin43.9%
- Bremen40.9%
- Hamburg38.6%
- Schleswig-Holstein36.8%
- Niedersachsen32.7%
- Saarland32.6%
- Nordrhein-Westfalen28.8%
- Hessen28.0%
- Rheinland-Pfalz27.9%
- Bayern25.8%
- Baden-Württemberg23.3%
2025
Then and now
Drag across the map to compare 1991 with 2025. Both maps share one colour key.
Former West
10.7%
excl. Berlin
Former East
41.2%
excl. Berlin
Berlin
29.8%
Germany
15.1%
The East's figure is 3.9× the West's (1991).
Notes & caveats
- Share = live births to parents not married to each other ÷ all live births × 100 — our calculation from the published counts. Births are counted by the mother's place of residence.
- State, East, West and Germany values use the state rows of table 126xx-b17; district values use the district rows. Destatis applies a confidentiality procedure from 2025 on, so district counts may not add up exactly to the state totals.
- Our check: the 2025 state counts in the report agree with GENESIS table 12612-0102 (married + unmarried) to within a few births, the margin of the Destatis confidentiality procedure.
- "Not married to each other" includes single mothers, cohabiting couples and parents married to someone else. It says nothing about whether the parents live together.
- 1991 values are by state from GENESIS 12612-0102, the first year in that table.
- The 1989 figures in the summary come from Destatis' long-run series for East Germany (GDR) and the former West Germany; they are not directly comparable with the state-based East (without Berlin) used elsewhere on this page.
Show the table
| State | Side | 2025 | 1991 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saarland | west | 32.6% | 10.3% |
| Berlin | berlin | 43.9% | 29.8% |
| Brandenburg | east | 51.4% | 43.4% |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | east | 53.7% | 45.1% |
| Sachsen | east | 51.2% | 39.0% |
| Sachsen-Anhalt | east | 55.5% | 43.5% |
| Thüringen | east | 51.3% | 37.4% |
| Schleswig-Holstein | west | 36.8% | 14.4% |
| Hamburg | west | 38.6% | 20.6% |
| Niedersachsen | west | 32.7% | 11.6% |
| Bremen | west | 40.9% | 20.9% |
| Nordrhein-Westfalen | west | 28.8% | 10.0% |
| Hessen | west | 28.0% | 10.6% |
| Rheinland-Pfalz | west | 27.9% | 9.0% |
| Baden-Württemberg | west | 23.3% | 9.3% |
| Bayern | west | 25.8% | 10.7% |