E C O N O M I C R E P O R T O F T H E P R E S I D E N T

The increased prevalence of single-parent households is also related to therise in out-of-wedlock births. For unmarried females aged 15-44, the numberof births per 1,000 women increased dramatically from 7.1 in 1940 to 46.9in 1994, but it has since stabilized and begun to decline, reaching 44.3 in1998 (Chart 5-3). In contrast, this measure of the birth rate among marriedwomen has been dropping since the baby-boom of the 1950s and 1960s,although it remains nearly twice that of unmarried women. As a result ofthese trends, the share of all births that were to unmarried women of all agesincreased eightfold, from 4.0 percent in 1950 to 32.8 percent in 1998,although this figure has begun to level off in recent years. Some of thisincrease reflects lower marriage rates generally, and some reflects the rapidincrease in the late 1980s and early 1990s in out-of-wedlock births, includingthose to teens. (The Administration’s efforts to reduce teen pregnancy arediscussed later in this chapter.)Life Expectancy and HealthThe life expectancy and health of Americans increased dramatically over the20th century. Major public health initiatives (such as immunization campaigns,better sewage systems, and education about hygiene) as well as medical advances(from antibiotics to pacemakers to bone marrow transplants) have led to the virtualeradication of numerous diseases and conditions that once contributed tohigh death rates and low life expectancy. For example, technological innova-170 | Economic Report of the President