After a steady drop through the 1990s, the birthrate for unmarried black women reached a record low in 1996, as more women used more reliable forms of birth control.

Still, a larger percentage of black single women had a child out of wedlock than whites, though an even greater percentage of unmarried Hispanics gave birth, according to an annual report released this week that reviewed all 3.9 million birth certificates from 1996.The report said the birthrate for single black women was the lowest level since the government began recording the statistic in 1969.

"This is an important trend worth tracking," said Kristen Moore, senior research associate at Child Trends, a research firm in Washington. "At the same time, the rates remain fairly high."

The report by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also found:

- A record 6,000 babies were born in sets of three, four or more in 1996, a one-year leap of 19 percent and a huge jump from the days before fertility drugs.

- A continued drop in the number of women smoking while pregnant, although there was an increase in the number of pregnant teenagers who smoke. Overall, 13.6 percent of pregnant women smoked, down steadily from 20 percent in 1989.

- An increase, for the seventh year running, in the number of women receiving early prenatal care. Improvements were tallied for women in all racial and ethnic groups, with more than eight in 10 women seeing a doctor during the first trimester. Teenagers were least likely to get this important early care.

Overall, the birthrate for unmarried women remained virtually unchanged after steady increases through the 1980s.

In 1996, it fell 1 percent, to 44.8 births per 1,000 unmarried women from 45.1 per 1,000 unmarried women of childbearing age giving birth. For white women, the rate edged up slightly, to 2.8 percent; for Hispanics, it was down a bit, to 9.3 percent.

But for non-Hispanic blacks, the birthrate fell to 74.4 per 1,000 after peaking in 1989 at 90.7 per 1,000. That was an 18 percent drop. The previous low was 75.2 births per 1,000 in 1984.

The decline is due in part to a sharp decrease in the birthrate among black teenagers, although older, unmarried black women are also giving birth less often, said Stephanie J. Ventura, lead author of the government's annual report.

There are many programs to serve unmarried teens, Moore noted, but few for older black women.

"These are women stepping forward themselves," she said. "As a researcher, we don't know why yet."