Church and family groups in Scotland have expressed alarm for the growing number of children in Scotland living in broken families after new figures revealed the highest ever number of children born out of wedlock.

The divorce rate in the country has also soared following the introduction of "quickie" divorce laws which led to a 19 per cent rise in the number of divorces last year to more than 13,000, Scottish newspaper The Scotsman reported. Scotland has also seen a three per cent drop in the number of people marrying and the proportion of children born to unmarried parents has peaked at 48 per cent.

Church and family groups reacted to the figures with alarm, saying they reflected an "unhealthy society" that was having an increasingly negative effect on children.

Joseph Devine, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Motherwell, blamed the alarming statistics on the Scottish Government's failure to protect the status of marriage. "Clearly, recent legislation making divorce easier and quicker has had an impact. But so long as Government fails to attach the importance it should to the institutions of marriage and the traditional family, society, and children in particular, will pay the price."

The Executive has assured, however, that the institution of marriage is still esteemed in Scotland and that the sudden rise in divorce is due solely to changes in the law.

Morag Mylne, Convener of the Church of Scotland Church and Society Council, warned, however: "If marriage is not embraced and recognised, that is something that naturally concerns the Church and should concern all of society."

Daniel Boucher, of Christian Group Care, feared Scotland could become one of only a few countries in Europe with more than half of children born out of wedlock. "Unless Government takes proper steps to invest in marriage, the rate will go over 50 per cent and the state will reap the consequences in 10 to 15 years' time."