10 answers to questions you didn’t know you had

Thanks to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Womb Within can answer questions you never knew you had. Keep in mind, these numbers are from 2005 as it takes quite a while to gather statistics and compile them.

How many boys are born compared with girls?

In 2005, there were 2,118,982 boys compared with 2,019,367 girls, for a ratio of 1,049 males for every 1000 females.

What day of the week has more births? Which has the fewest?

More babies are born on Tuesdays and Sundays are the quietest. But, this is for the United States where many babies are born by planned or elective Cesarean sections, which could skew the days. More C-sections are done on weekdays than on weekends, but the researchers did find that more vaginal births occurred on Tuesdays too.

Which month has the most births? Which has the fewest?

August is the busiest month for people who deliver babies. February is the least popular month. (Marijke asks: could this be because there are fewer days though?) If you’re planning your pregnancy – as much as pregnancies can be planned, it is more likely that you’ll aim for warmer weather, which explains why August is the most popular, followed by July and September.

Are most moms married or unmarried?

The unmarried mother rate is rising and increased substantially over the three years from 2002 to 2005, to 9% to 12%.

How old are the moms delivering now?

Women between 20 to 24 years old had babies at a rate of 102.2 per 1000 births. The record low for births in this age group was the year before, in 2004.

For women between 25 to 29 years, the rate has been stable, relatively unchanged since 2002 at 115.5 births per 1000.

• Women 30 to 34 years increased slightly to 95.8 per 1000 births.
• Women 35 to 39 years saw the rate rise by 2% since 2004 to 46.3 per 1000 births.
• Women 40 to 44 years also saw a 2% rise to 9.1per 1000 births.
• Women frorm 45 to 49 stayed stable for quite a while and recently saw a rise to 0.6 per 1000 births.
• Women 50 years and older made up 417 of the total births, up from 374 the year before.

How many C-sections were done?

The C-section rate is rising at alarming rates, say experts. In 2005, there was a 4% increase in C-sections over the year before to a total of 30.3% of births being by C-section.

How many babies were born in 2005?

4,138,349 babies were born in 2005, a 1% increase over the year before.

Which state has the highest birth rate? Which has the lowest?

Vermont has the lowest birth rate of 10.1 births for every 1000 people in the state. Utah has the highest rate at 20.9 per 1000 people in the state.

How many deliveries took place in a hospital?

99% of babies were born in a hospital in 2005.

How many babies were delivered by midwives?

Midwives delivered 7.9% of babies, a number unchanged from the year before.

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Tags: pregnancy blog, pregnancy rate, midwives, cesarean sections, c sections, vaginal deliveries, birth rates