Oregon Paternity Statistics

Globally, 15 percent of children are born to unmarried parents.

In 1964, about eight percent of children were born to parents who were unmarried. By 2014, that figure increased to 40 percent.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the racial breakdown of children born to unmarried parents is as follows:

• Black: 71 percent
• Hispanic: 53 percent
• White: 29 percent
• Total: 40 percent

In Oregon specifically, 36.3 percent of children are born to unmarried mothers, according to data assembled by the Center for Disease Control. This ranks Oregon as 36th in the country in terms of the percentage of children born to unmarried mothers.

In Washington, 31.1 percent of children are born to unmarried mothers, according to data assembled by the Center for Disease Control. This ranks Oregon as 46th in the country in terms of the percentage of children born to unmarried mothers.

• There are nearly 300,000 paternity tests conducted each year to exclude a man as the biological father of a child.
• 72 percent of these tests indicated that the man was the child’s father.
• According to a 2006 study, this percentage was relatively constant across all races.

• The rate of paternal discrepancy varies by country, but ranges between .08 percent and 30 percent.
• The estimated rate of paternal discrepancy in the United States is between one and five percent.
• Two-thirds of US medical geneticists would not disclose parental discrepancy to a woman’s partner, even if he asks.

In Oregon, paternity agreements can be established through an agreement between the parents, through blood or DNA testing, or through a court ruling.

Under Oregon law, if a child is born within 300 days of the termination of a marriage by death, annulment, divorce, or legal separation, the husband is presumed to be the father.

In the United States, fewer than 10 percent of children who are born into two-parent households also live with parents that are living together but not married.

About one in four children in the United States live with just one parent.