Record Number Of Infants Born In U.S. In 2007, Preliminary Data Finds

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 22 Jul 2008 - 8:00 PST

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A record number of infants were born in the U.S. in 2007, according to provisional data released last week by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, USA Today reports. According to the data, there were 4,315,000 births in 2007, which some demographers say could signal a potential infant "boomlet," USA Today reports (Jayson, USA Today, 7/17).

NCHS compiled the data from provisional birth certificate registrations at state health departments. According to Stephanie Ventura, a demographer at NCHS, there were about 15,000 more births in 2007 than the highest amount previously recorded -- which was in 1957. Although it is the highest number "ever reported," Ventura said it does not mean there is a "baby boom" under way. "What this really reflects is that the population has grown so much in the United States, so you naturally expect more births," Ventura said, adding, "It's hard to call this a baby boom at this point." Ventura noted that the years leading up to 2007 indicated slight increases in the number of births, but not the substantial growth seen between 1946 and 1964 (Simmons, AP/Google.com, 7/17).

Arthur Nelson, a demographer at the University of Utah, said, "I suspect this is the beginning of a new kind of baby boom, although it's going to be nowhere near the Baby Boom of the 50s or 1960s." Some demographers said that to be considered a "real boom," the percentage increases would have to be much larger than the single-digit increases currently recorded, USA Today reports. Nelson attributed the increase in number of births to a "perfect storm" of factors, including more immigrants having children, professional women who delayed childbearing until their 40s and larger numbers of women in their 20s and 30s in the country. Further details on births in 2007 will be not available until the fall, Ventura said (USA Today, 7/17).

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