More babies were born in Iceland in 2009 than in any recorded year previous in the country.
Statistics Iceland reports that all told, 2,561 boys and 2,466 girls were born in Iceland last year, for a grand total of 5,027 children. This marks the first time the 5,000 mark has been breached, and 192 more children than were born the year previous.
The closest Iceland has previous gotten to breaking the 5,000 mark was in 1959 and 1960, when 4,837 and 4,916 children respectively were born here.
Only about a third of these children are born from married couples, or 35.6%. In 1961, that figure was at 74.3%. Whether a child is born in wedlock or not depends largely upon whether the child is a first for a couple, or the second child, or third, and so on, with decreasing likelihood of being born out of wedlock with how many older siblings the child has. Only 8.1% of children with two older siblings have parents who are still unmarried.