Our picture of ‘unmarried mothers’ is a young, usually minority, female. I’d bet a significant # of that 40% are college-educated, professional white women who live with their boyfriends without benefit of marriage OR are lesbians who found a sperm donor so baby could have two mommies.
Those women tend to have nice carers and make good incomes.
Women with college degrees are about 90% likely to be married IF they have kids.
It used to be said that a high school diploma would prevent illegitimacy but 50% of women with between 12 to 16 years of education aren’t married when they give birth.
A sociologist from the U of Pennsylvania recently described marriage as a “luxury item.”