Illegitimate births in northeast Sunnerbo district and southeast Västbo district : A quantitative study of the eight parishes 1880–1945

This study analyzes illegitimate children. The children’s mothers age when giving birth, their occupation, if their fathers are unknown or not are some of the study’s main questions. The study’s questions examine in eight parishes, six from Sunnerbo district and two from Västbo district. The investigations period is 1860-1945, divided into five different periods. This is a comparative study in time perspective but also in a perspective of different areas. The purpose of this study is to analyze the proportion of illegitimate children in the different parishes, compare them to each other and then to the proportions in the entire country. The study shows that a smaller number of illegitimate children was born in the eight parishes then in the entire country. This study as similar others on the field proves that the majority of the illegitimate children’s fathers were unknown. The fact that a great number of fathers were unknown often put the unmarried mothers in a difficult economic and social situation. The unmarried mother’s profession was maid or in Swedish piga in most of the parishes from 1860 to 1931. The unmarried mothers age is hardly shifting between the different time periods and in the different parishes, but the average age was for example 28 between 1860-1870 and 26 in 1880 to 1890.