Over a third of all babies born in Northern Ireland last year were born outside marriage.
Across Northern Ireland as a whole, 35 per cent of all live births were outside marriage, according to the annual report of the Registrar General.
There were wide variations. While 54 per cent of babies born in Belfast did not have married parents, in Omagh, Co Tyrone it was just 20 per cent.
Despite the figures, marriage was proving ever more popular, with a seven per cent rise to 8,328 in the number compared with the previous year.
While the majority of marriages continue to be solemnised by religious ceremony, the numbers of civil ceremony's taking place in Register Offices grows apace.
In 2004 32 per cent of marriages were civil, compared with 12 per cent in 1981 and just 5 per cent in 1961. On the downside the number of divorces rose to a record 2,512.
The report showed the Northern Ireland population is getting bigger and older - and in 2004 had the lowest number of deaths on record.
The size of the population increased by 0.5 per cent - 7,700 people - to 1,710,300.
PA