The Catholic Church in Wales has reaffirmed its commitment to the institution of marriage, as official figures released last week showed that more than half of all births in Wales are outside of wedlock - and the figure is rising.

For the third year in a row, babies in Wales are more likely to be born outside of marriage than to married couples, reports Welsh newspaper Western Mail.

According to the latest figures, Wales retained its position as the country with the highest percentage of children born outside of wedlock in the UK, at 52.4 per cent. Scotland is second, with 47.1 per cent, and in Northern Ireland the figure is 36.3 per cent. The UK average is 42.9 per cent.

And the number of children born outside of marriage is set to rise, having grown at a rate of about 1 per cent - equivalent to more than 300 babies - each year since the millennium.

Experts in Wales see the growing trend as part of an ongoing change in attitude towards raising children.

Karen Jewell, a consultant midwife and chair of the Royal College of Midwives' Welsh Board, said, "We are finding that a lot of pregnant women are not married, but they are with a partner or in a long-term relationship.

"I think that many couples see getting married as something they can do in a few years' time, when the children are older."

But Catriona Williams, chief executive of Children in Wales, said, "The wellbeing of a child is achieved through a number of factors, including emotional stability and sufficient food and exercise - it's not as simple as the legal status of the parents.

"And there is no guarantee that a child's general development will be superior if there are two parents present, instead of one.

"But it is crucially important to children, and their development, that they have security in the emotional relationships they have with the people looking after them."

The Catholic Church in Wales responded, however, by defending the institution of marriage as part of God's order for creation and the best environment in which to raise children.

Canon Robert Reardon, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Cardiff, said, "The constant teaching of the Catholic Church is that marriage is the best environment in which to bring up and nurture a child.

"It is an environment in which the child can grow into the possibility of forming good relationships because of their experience of being in a family.

"Relationships, including marriages, do break down and cause hurt and pain, but the best and ideal setting is a stable married relationship.

"From a religious point of view marriage could be seen as part of how God intended his creations to be.

"From a secular point of view many would point to marriage providing the best opportunity for stability."