THE North-East has become the first region in the country to see more babies born out of wedlock than to married couples, it was revealed last night.

The National Statistics Report, published annually, shows that 50.5 per cent of children born in the North-East during 2000 were born outside marriage, compared with a national average across England of 39.1 per cent.

Data already released shows the numbers varying across Europe, ranging from only four per cent of births outside marriage in Greece, to 55 per cent in Sweden.

Figures from County Durham and Tees Valley Health Authority on the number of children born to unmarried mothers in 2000 show ten were to girls aged 11 to 15, 57 to girls 16 to 17, and 102 to young women aged 18 and 19.

Health Authority spokeswoman Pauline Williams said teenage pregnancies could be one of the reasons for the high number of births outside marriage in the report.

Newcastle-based religious group, the Christian Institute, hit out at the rise in unmarried parents.

Spokesman Iain Bainbridge said: "It is a sad reflection of our society. Cohabitation is an unstable environment and it is sad that so many children are being introduced to this world within relationships which are likely to break up."

A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Bishop of Middlesbrough said expensive weddings could be partly to blame.

Father Derek Turnham said: "We have got hold of the idea that we need to spend £8,000 for a big white wedding, which is not the case.

"Couples probably feel they have to save up for the day, and have children first."

But Dr Joan Harvey, chartered psychologist at the University of Newcastle, said: "There are different strands involved here. Less people go to church, so are less likely to get married for the religious aspect, which isn't a problem.

"There is also an increasing number of single teenage mothers, which is a problem, because a child does benefit from having two parents.