Australia vs Latvia: Share of children who were born outside of marriage
Australia
36.5%
in 2020
Latvia
39.5%
in 2020
Australia rank
26th
Latvia rank
24th
Share of children who were born outside of marriage over time
- Australia
- Latvia
How they compare
Latvia currently reports 39.5% against 36.5% in Australia, a difference of 3.0%.
That makes Latvia's figure about 1.1 times Australia's.
The two have swapped places 2 times across 46 shared years of data; in 1975 it was Latvia ahead.
Australia ranks 26th and Latvia ranks 24th of 42 countries.
Across the 6 decades both report, Australia averaged higher in 1 and Latvia in 5.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Australia | Latvia | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 10.7% | 12.1% | 1.4% | Latvia |
| 1980s | 15.8% | 14.3% | 1.6% | Australia |
| 1990s | 25.9% | 27.8% | 1.9% | Latvia |
| 2000s | 32.5% | 43.4% | 10.9% | Latvia |
| 2010s | 34.6% | 42.3% | 7.7% | Latvia |
| 2020s | 36.5% | 39.5% | 3.0% | Latvia |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher share of children who were born outside of marriage, Australia or Latvia?
- Latvia, at 39.5% against 36.5% in Australia as of 2020.
- What is the difference in share of children who were born outside of marriage between Australia and Latvia?
- 3.0%, with Latvia ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Australia and Latvia?
- 46 years are reported by both, from 1975 to 2020.
- How do Australia and Latvia rank globally for share of children who were born outside of marriage?
- Australia ranks 26th and Latvia ranks 24th of 42 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- OECD (2025); OECD (2024) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Share of children who were born outside of marriage. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Share of all children born to mothers who were not married at the time of birth.