State summary for
- In 2020, 1 in 10 babies (10.1% of live births) was born preterm in the United States.
- In 2020, 1 in 12 babies (8.2% of live births) was low birthweight in the United States.
- In the United States in 2019, 20,969 infants died before reaching their first birthday, an infant mortality rate of 5.6 per 1,000 live births.
- In the United States in 2020, 74.7% of infants were born to women receiving adequate/adequate plus prenatal care.
- In the United States in 2020, 31.8% of live births were cesarean deliveries.
- In 2020, about 1 in 9 women of childbearing age (11.6%) was uninsured in the United States.
In an average week in United States:
Data Topics
Use this page to browse the multiple different data sets and indicators that PeriStats offers on maternal and infant health subjects. The data search tool on this page will guide you through the data we continually update.
Preterm Birth
Preterm birth is defined as a live birth before 37 completed weeks gestation. Some other classifications of preterm births include late preterm (34-36 weeks), moderately preterm (32-36 weeks) and very preterm (<32 weeks). These classifications are useful because they often correspond to clinical characteristics - increasing morbidities or illnesses with decreasing gestational age. Babies born too soon are often born too small. While the causes of preterm birth and low birthweight may be different in some cases, there is significant overlap within these populations of infants.
Last updated: January 2022
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Preterm Birth
Reports
State summary reports consist of several different reports that the Perinatal Data Center has created in order to use data to tell a story about maternal and child health in your state. While some individual datapoints will overlap, each report has a different focus. These reports may be useful to use for local policy changes or programs.
