NI town has among highest wedlock births in UK
A Northern Irish town has among the highest proportion of children born within wedlock or a civil partnership anywhere in the UK.
The district with the lowest proportion of births to such couples was revealed to be Knowsley, Merseyside, where 74.8% per cent of children were born outside marriage or a civil partnership.
At the other end of the spectrum, just 26.5% of children in Magherafelt, south-east Londonderry, were born outside of such partnerships.
This was the fifth-lowest percentage in the UK.
The UK average was 48%.
The figures, published by the Press Association on Thursday, stem from the Office for National Statistics.