11 cool pregnancy & birth stats

by Jennifer Chait, PregnancyAndBaby.com

Just for fun, here's a selection of cool birth data via the newest
CDC birth vitals statistic report (pdf).


1) On average, how many babies are born each year?:
4,265,555 births were recorded in 2006, making this highest birth rate year since 1989. (Plus, this figure doesn't likely account for all babies born in the USA.)

2) What's the average age of first time mamas?: 25 years of age.

3) Are male or female babies more common?: In 2006, there were 2,184,237 male and 2,081,318 female live births, so baby boys are taking over.

4) The most common month to be born in is?: August.

5) The least common month to be born in is?: February

6) The most common day of the week to be born on is?: Wednesday! This is actually odd. Since 1990 (at least) the most common day to be born has ALWAYS been Tuesday. This year, Wednesday took over.

7) The least common day of the week to be born on is?: Sunday.

8) Are cesarean delivery rates really rising?: Yep. 2006 saw an all-time high rate of c-sections; 31.1 percent, and it keeps going up. Learn more about cesarean births .

9) How many babies are born in the hospital?: Almost 100%. Less than 0.09% of babies were born hospital-free in 2006. Of these out-of-hospital births, 64% were in a residence (home) and 28% were in a freestanding birthing center.

10) How many multiples were born in 2006?: 137,085 twins (a record high); 6,118 sets of triplets; 355 quadruplet sets; 67 quintuplets and higher sets.

11) Which states had the most births?: California 562,440; Texas 399,603; New York 250,104; Illinois 180,572; Ohio 150,593.



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