# 1 of 7 kids is an 'illegitimate child '? UL or fact?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-of-7-kids-is-an-illegitimate-child-ul-or-fact/159697
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 7, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-of-7-kids-is-an-illegitimate-child-ul-or-fact/159697 "2003-03-07T13:13:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-of-7-kids-is-an-illegitimate-child-ul-or-fact/159697/1 "2003-03-07T13:13:59Z")
I started by doing a search on ‘bastard’. Funny how many threads from the Pit, that showed up.
Anyways, I’m in a heated debate on another forum about illegitimate children and how common it is. I’ve heard claims of 1 in 7, 1 in 10 ASF. Some say it’s done by testing for blood group (not so reliable, maybe) others that it’s done recently with DNA.
Can any of you dopers point me to a reliable source?
Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-of-7-kids-is-an-illegitimate-child-ul-or-fact/159697/2 "2003-03-07T14:15:13Z")
Addressed to some extent previously
[Cuckolding more prevalent than we think](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=101211&highlight=father+cuckolding)
---
### Author:  [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-of-7-kids-is-an-illegitimate-child-ul-or-fact/159697/3 "2003-03-07T14:18:29Z")
FWIW The Census says in 1996 about 69% of kids lived with two parents in a traditional nuclear family: defined as two (self ID’ed) parents living together — they included stepparents and unmarried couples living together as Traditional in this survey. Obvioulsy this doesn’t get directly at out of wedlock births - it does hint tho. About 1/3 of kids are living in situation where the parents are no longer together – tho that doesn’t mean they weren’t married at the time of birth.
[http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/p70-74.pdf](http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/p70-74.pdf)
This U.S. Govt Census site on the Marital status of Women at first birth gives you a historical prerspective in the last century.
_About 53 percent of first births which occurred between 1990 and 1994 to women 15 to 29 years old were either born out-of-wedlock or conceived before the women’s first marriage. About 60 years ago, only one of 6 births was born or conceived before marriage._
[http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0020/twps0020.html](http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0020/twps0020.html)
Again though these are **first births** not all births
The usefulness of these numbers re the OP? I’m not sure but they are as rock solid numbers as possible.
---
### Author:  [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-of-7-kids-is-an-illegitimate-child-ul-or-fact/159697/4 "2003-03-07T14:42:46Z")
thanks. jimmmy. But it was about “John and Jane had a baby, but the father is actually Frank, the pool guy.”