2009 Natality
In 2003, HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson approved the revision to the U.S. Standard Certificate of Live Birth and encouraged all states to adopt it. The process involved in this revision, as well as details of what was revised, can be found on the CDC Vital Certificate Revisions webpage.
Texas adopted the new U.S. Standard Certificate of Live Birth in 2005. This revision includes changes to items such as onset of prenatal care, maternal smoking history, race/ethnicity, etc. For details regarding race/ethnicity computation for birth data, see Table 44.
Births and Birth Rates
There were 401,599 live births to Texas residents in 2009, a decrease of 0.9 percent (3,643 fewer births) from 2008, and an increase of 10.5 percent (38,274 more births) from 2000.
(data)
In the ten-year period from 2000 through 2009, the proportion of births to white* mothers decreased from 42.9 percent of all births in 2000 to 38.6 percent in 2008 and 2009. At the same time, the proportion of births to Hispanic mothers increased from 45.8 percent of births in 2000 to 50.1 percent in 2008 and 2009. The number of Hispanic births has exceeded the number of white* births since 1999. The proportion of births to black mothers in 2000 and 2009 was 11.3 percent.
* Includes women of other and unknown race/ethnicity.
The 2009 crude birth rate of 16.2 births per 1,000 Texas residents is the lowest rate on record. The crude birth rate has decreased by 0.5 births per 1,000 residents from 2008. The rate for whites* dropped from 13.3 in 2000 to 12.4 in 2009. The crude birth rate for blacks declined from 17.8 in 2000 to 15.9 in 2009. The Hispanic rate went from 26.4 to 21.3.
(data)
The general fertility rate for Texas, which is the number of live births to Texas residents per 1,000 women ages 15 through 44, was 75.1 in 2009. In 2000, it was 78.4 (Figure B). Like crude birth rates, race/ethnicity-specific general fertility rates have been highest among Hispanics, and lowest among whites* over the past ten years. In 2000, the general fertility rates of whites*, black, and Hispanics were 60.8, 71.8, and 111.2, respectively. In 2009, fertility rates for white* females increased to 64.1, while the rates for Black and Hispanic females has decreased to 67.6 and 89.1 respectively.
(data)
Mother’s Age and Father’s Age
More than half (54.2 percent) of Texas resident live births in 2009 were to mothers 20 to 29 years of age, and three-fourths (74.7 percent) were to mothers 20 to 34 years old (Table A). Mothers aged 10-17 accounted for 4.7 percent of the births in 2009, compared to 4.9 percent in 2008. The percentage of mothers aged 18 and 19 decreased slightly from 8.7 percent in 2008 to 8.6 percent in 2009. In the same time frame, the percentage of births to mothers aged 30-34 increased slightly from 20.2 percent to 20.5 percent. The percentage of births to mothers aged 35-39 also increased from 9.6 in 2008 to 9.8 percent in 2009.
| Age | White* | Black | Hispanic | All Races |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10-14 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| 15-19 | 7.6 | 16.1 | 16.6 | 13.1 |
| 20-24 | 22.2 | 32.7 | 28.8 | 26.7 |
| 25-29 | 30.0 | 25.4 | 25.9 | 27.5 |
| 30-34 | 25.3 | 15.8 | 17.9 | 20.5 |
| 35-39 | 12.1 | 7.7 | 8.5 | 9.8 |
| 40+ | 2.7 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 2.2 |
|
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| Age | White* | Black | Hispanic | All Races |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10-17 | 2.0 | 5.6 | 6.5 | 4.7 |
| 18-19 | 5.7 | 10.8 | 10.4 | 8.6 |
| 20-29 | 52.3 | 58.2 | 54.8 | 54.2 |
| 20-34 | 77.5 | 74.0 | 72.7 | 74.7 |
| 35+ | 14.8 | 9.6 | 10.4 | 12.0 |
|
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Mothers' ages ranged from 11 to 55 years; the mean mother's age was 26.7 years. Among birth certificates that included information on the father's age (85.2 percent of all birth certificates), fathers ranged in age from 13 to 86. The mean father's age was 29.7 years.
Age-specific birth rates, calculated as the number of live births per 1,000 women in the specified age group, were highest among women aged 25-29, followed by women aged 20-24 for all races combined (Table B). Hispanic women aged 20-24, followed by Hispanic women aged 25-29 and black women aged 20-24 had the highest age-specific birth rates for individual race/ethnicities. White women were the only race/ethnicity whose highest age-specific birth rate occurred in the 25-29 age group. Age-specific birth rates for Hispanics were higher than rates for whites or blacks at every age group except 30-34 years. Whites in the youngest three age groups had the lowest fertility; blacks had the lowest fertility in the remaining age groups.
| Age | White* | Black | Hispanic | All Races |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
10-14 |
0.2 |
1.4 |
1.6 |
1.0 |
|
15-19 |
30.4 |
57.9 |
83.3 |
57.4 |
|
20-24 |
86.8 |
124.9 |
151.9 |
119.5 |
|
25-29 |
116.4 |
103.5 |
129.5 |
120.6 |
|
30-34 |
102.7 |
72.1 |
91.3 |
94.1 |
|
35-39 |
44.3 |
32.3 |
46.4 |
43.7 |
| 40-44 | 9.1 | 7.2 | 11.5 | 9.7 |
| All ages^ | 64.1 | 67.6 | 89.1 | 75.1 |
|
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Marital Status
Overall, 57.4 percent of mothers reported being married. However, there were large differences in marriage rates across age groups and race/ethnicities (Table C).In general, white mothers were most likely to be married and black mothers least likely to be married. Very few mothers aged 14 and younger were married. The likelihood of being married generally increased with the mother's age for all race/ethnicities, although marriage rates for all mothers dropped slightly at age 40 and up.
| Age | White* | Black | Hispanic | All Races |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10-14 |
1.4 |
0.0 |
1.0 |
0.8 |
| 15-19 | 20.8 | 3.3 | 17.4 | 16.2 |
| 20-24 | 53.4 | 16.9 | 40.6 | 41.4 |
| 25-29 | 81.9 | 41.9 | 59.6 | 67.1 |
| 30-34 |
90.6 |
59.0 |
69.5 |
78.6 |
| 35-39 | 90.8 | 67.5 | 72.6 | 80.8 |
| 40+ |
88.2 |
67.1 |
70.4 |
78.6 |
| All ages^ | 74.3 | 32.5 | 50.0 | 57.4 |
|
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Prenatal Care
Beginning with 2001 data, Vital Statistics annual reports do not include tables or data based on the Kessner Index. (These data may still be obtained by request.) Please see the sources at the end of this chapter for more information regarding strengths and weaknesses of various prenatal care utilization indexes 1, 2 . The Kessner index data in Table 13 has been replaced with data on the mother's marital and educational status.
This annual report still includes data on the month in which prenatal care began because it is one of the indicators suggested by the CDC's Healthy People 2010 initiative 3. However, due to implementation of a new birth certificate for 2005 data, onset of prenatal care within the first trimester is not directly comparable to years prior to 2005 (Source: Technical Appendix from Vital Statistics of the United States, 2004. Natality in the Documentation of the Detail Natality Public Use File for 2004).
| Trimester | White* | Black | Hispanic | All Races |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 69.2 | 51.1 | 51.8 | 58.6 |
| 2nd | 22.8 | 32.6 | 32.9 | 28.9 |
| 3rd | 5.4 | 10.4 | 9.1 | 7.8 |
| No care | 2.6 | 5.9 | 6.3 | 4.8 |
|
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Place of Delivery and Birth Attendant
Nearly all Texans who gave birth in 2009 did so in a hospital (99.2 percent). A small number occurred in licensed birthing centers (0.4 percent) or at home (0.4 percent), or other locations (negligible).
Physicians delivered 95.7 percent of infants born to Texas residents. Certified nurse-midwives attended 2.9 percent of all births and lay midwives attended 0.4 percent. The remainder, about 1.0 percent, were delivered by other types of attendants, such as EMS workers or relatives.
Low Birth Weight and Very Low Birth Weight
There were 34,157 low birth weight (<2,500 grams) infants born to Texas residents in 2009, which is 8.5 percent of live births (Table E). The rate was 8.4 percent in 2007 and 2008. Since 1998, low birth weight infants have increased from 7.4 percent to 8.5 percent of live births.
The risk of giving birth to a low birth weight infant remains much higher for black mothers (14.2 percent) than for Hispanic mothers (7.6 percent) or white mothers (8.0 percent). The incidence of low birth weight infants is higher among the youngest and oldest mothers. In 2009, 13.7 percent of births to mothers ages 14 and younger and 12.8 percent of births to mothers ages 40 and older were low birth weight.
A total of 5,952 births (1.5 percent of live births) were very low birth weight (<1,500 grams). This rate is slightly higher than the rate since 2001 (i.e. 1.3 percent). As with low birth weight, the risk of having a very low birth weight infant was highest for black mothers, and for the youngest and oldest mothers. The percentage of births to women 40 and over is up from 2001, when 1.7 percent of the women in that age group gave birth to very low birth weight infants.
| Demographics | Very Low Birth Weight (<1,500 grams) |
Low Birth Weight (<2,500 grams) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race/ Ethnicity |
Number of Births |
Percent of Births |
Number of Births |
Percent of Births |
| White* | 2,007 | 1.3 | 12,378 | 8.0 |
| Black | 1,412 | 3.1 | 6,471 | 14.2 |
| Hispanic | 2,533 | 1.3 | 15,308 | 7.6 |
| All Races | 5,952 | 1.5 | 34,157 | 8.5 |
* Includes women of other and unknown race/ethnicity.
| Demographics | Very Low Birth Weight (<1,500 grams) |
Low Birth Weight (<2,500 grams) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Number of Births |
Percent of Births |
Number of Births |
Percent of Births |
| 10-14 |
24 |
2.9 |
113 |
13.7 |
| 15-19 | 794 | 1.5 | 4,926 | 9.4 |
| 20-24 | 1,418 | 1.3 | 8,984 | 8.4 |
| 25-29 | 1,501 | 1.4 | 8,466 | 7.7 |
| 30-34 | 1,245 | 1.5 | 6,736 | 8.2 |
| 35-39 | 753 | 1.9 | 3,824 | 9.7 |
| 40+ | 217 | 2.5 | 1,107 | 12.8 |
| Unknown |
0 |
0.0 |
1 |
20.0 |
| Total |
5,952 |
1.5 |
34,157 |
8.5 |
Other Birth Characteristics
In 2009, male infants accounted for 51.0 percent of all births (204,876) and female infants accounted for 49.0 percent (196,723). The majority of all births were either first children (39.0 percent) or second children (30.6 percent). Third children accounted for 17.9 percent of all births, fourth children 7.8 percent, and fifth children 2.8 percent.
There were 388,736 singleton births, accounting for 96.8 percent of all births. Twin births accounted for 3.0 percent of all births. All other multiple births occurred in less than 0.2 percent of all births.
- Kogan MD, Martin JA, Alexander GR, Kotelchuck M, Ventura SJ, Frigoletto FD. The changing pattern of prenatal care utilization in the United States, 1981-1995, using different prenatal care indices. JAMA, 279:1623-1628.
- Alexander GR, Kotelchuck M. Quantifying the adequacy of prenatal care: a comparison of indices. Public Health Rep 1996 Sep-Oct;111(5):408-18.
- http://www.healthypeople.gov/2010/Document/HTML/tracking/od16.htm#prenatalcare;http://www.healthypeople.gov/2010/Document/HTML/tracking/od16.htm.
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2009 Annual Report List of Tables and References