Note 93 — Chapter XII · THE UNMARRIED MOTHER
Reading edition
Very interesting statistics in this connection are given in an admirable monograph by Dr. Max Marcuse, Uneheliche Mütter (Berlin, 1907, vol. xxvii. of the Documents of Great Towns, edited by Hans Ostwald).
Marriages per 1000. Illegitimate births per 1000.
1876 8.5 8.6
1877 8.0 8.7
1878 7.7 8.7
1879 7.5 8.8
Taken from Jahrbuch für das deutsche Reich. This table clearly shows a steady increase in the illegitimate birth-rate in direct proportion to the decline in the number of marriages.
In Bavaria, again, up to the year 1868, the parishes (Gemeinden) held a power of veto over all wage-earners desiring to marry. In 1868 most of these restrictions were abolished, and at once the illegitimate births dropped 12.6 per cent.