ILLEGITIMACY, the legal status of chil dren born out of wedlock, is a subject discussed under three points of view, moral, legal and economic. As to what constitutes illegitimacy is variously defined in different countries where great variety exists both in theory and prac tice. As to the legal status of illegitimate chil dren from the moral point of view, see BAS TARD.
Only in a few European countries are sta tistics available to show the extent of illegiti macy, and there are no statistics in Canada. In the United States there seems no efficient national system of registration of marriages and births. Some of the individual States re cord the illegitimate births, but the figures are misleading, because incomplete. Thus, the State of Indiana, a few years ago, returned 38, 370 legitimate and 560 illegitimate births — the illegitimate being only about 1.46 of the whole.
In the following table is shown the compara tive prevalence of illegitimacy in the principal European cities: None of the above figures are presented as absolutely accurate. They can only be approx imate in the best case, for in every country there must always be a large number of bas tards who either are not registered at all, or who are registered as legitimate. But as far
as they go the figures are instructive. They do not, however, enable one to form any conclu sion as to the causes of illegitimacy in respect either of religion, of education, of industrial occupation or of distribution of population. Neither can any theory be well evolved from a racial basis.
From the only available statistics the follow ing table has been prepared showing the aver age rate of illegitimacy in various countries: In Scotland, where education is general, and thrift national, the rate of illegitimacy is noto riously high. And, as regards morals, it should be remembered that a high percentage of illegitimacy may mean that there is little or no prostitution. In Europe, generally, although not universally, there seems a tendency to de crease in the rate of illegitimacy; but how far that appearance may be due to moral causes it is impossible to say.