Soviets Cite Problem of Illegitimate Births

The Soviet Union, in the first official disclosure of data on illegitimate births, has reported that more than 500,000 children are born to single mothers each year in the country despite high abortion rates.

“It’s a huge social problem,” said the weekly Semya (Family), which published the data, released by the State Statistics Committee, as part of an increasingly open attitude to adverse official statistics, many of them long suppressed.

Semya said 9.8% of Soviet babies--or more than half a million--were born to single mothers in 1987, up from 8.8% in 1980. It said the proportion was much higher in Estonia and other western parts of the country.