"Just 2 in 3 Brit babies are white"

Screams the headline in The Sun*, accompanied by a photo of six babies, only three of which appear to be white *sigh*.

I can't find the ONS press release, but this bit is worth repeating (assuming it is correct):

Almost all Asian babies (96 per cent) were born to married parents, compared with one third in the Caribbean group and 51 per cent in the white British category. The number of births by single mums was also highest in the Caribbean group — 20.5 per cent — followed by African (13 per cent) and white British (seven per cent).

OK, so 20.5% of black babies are born to single mums, so 79.5% are born to married parents (33.3%) or to cohabiting parents** (by subtraction 46.2%). Then there's the statistic paraded in The New Statesman: "59 per cent of black Caribbean children are looked after by a lone parent"..

That means, again by subtraction, that about half of all black parents who were married or cohabiting when a baby is born have split up (20.5% born to single mums ab initio plus half of 79.5% = 60.25%). That doesn't necessarily mean 'half will split up by the time the child has reached adulthood', it could mean that they all have split up by the time the child reaches adulthood. It could also mean five-sixths*** of those parents allegedly cohabiting were basically lying (for whatever reason) and who split up shortly after the birth. Or maybe, 46.2% genuinely are cohabiting (and remain together), but five-sixths of them fancy that extra £220 a week that the welfare system offers them if the mother claims to be a single mum. Who knows?

Just sayin', is all.

* Interestingly, The Daily Mirror runs the same story under the headline "Less than two thirds of babies are now white British" and concludes "... which is brilliant."

** i.e. the mother knew the 'father' well enough to be able to put his name on the birth certificate.

*** 5/6 x 46.2% = 38.5%, plus 20.5% born to officially single mums = 59% total.