Standard demographic analyses focus on changes in the share of marital and extra-marital births in the total number of births. The theory of the second demographic transition predicts that the increase in the share of extra-marital births is caused by a decrease in bridal pregnancies which were conceived premaritally, but born within marriage. The objective of the article is to analyse this issue through decomposition of data from the registration of births (1985—2016) provided by Statistics Poland into marital and extra-marital births as well as bridal pregnancies. In the analysed period, the results of the analyses show a constant decline in the share of bridal pregnancies, accompanied by a simultaneous increase in the share of extra-marital births and a slight increase in the share of marital births.
bridal pregnancies, extra-marital births, cohabitation, marriage, union formation, shotgun weddings
J11, P23
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