YOUTH 2020 - The position of young people in Slovenia

252 Additionally, in the past two decades Slovenia has also been facing a de- cline in fertility rates, especially among younger populations (15-24 years old). Unlike in the European Union in general, where this decline is evident also among 25-29 year-olds, in Slovenia the fertility rate in this age group has been relatively stable since 2008 (0.11) 2 and also above the EU-27 3 average, which was 0.09 in 2018 (Eurostat, 2002b). In line with the declining trend of marriage rates among young people, it is also not surprising that the number of unmarried families with children is on the rise (Figure 7.5). While in 2000 the number of children born out- side of marriage (outside of wedlock) was only 2.5% higher than the num- ber of those born in a marriage (in wedlock), by 2019 the number of births outside of marriage had almost doubled to that of births in a marriage. Figure 7.5: Number of children born to young mothers (15-29 years old) by marital status (first child), 2000-2019. 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 2000 2012 2001 2013 2002 2014 2003 2015 2004 2016 2005 2017 2006 2018 2007 2019 2009 2008 2010 2011 In wedlock Outside of wedlock 3318 4584 1637 2046 3621 3711 0 Source: SURS 2020. Similar to many European countries, also in Slovenia more and more young people are deciding to become parents without getting married (Eurostat, 2015) or they get married only after becoming parents. The decision to marry after or around the time they become parents is also evident from the previous data presented in Figure 7.4 and Figure 7.5.