Table of Contents

• In 2000, 87,697 infants were born to Indiana residents. The number of births increased each year between 1994 (82,522) and 2000 (87,697).
  
  
• Of the 87,697 infants of Indiana residents in 2000, 85,018 were single births, 2,481 were twins, 185 were triplets, and 13 were quadruplets. (NOTE: See definition of "multiple births" in the glossary).
  
  
• During 2000, 45,111 (51.4%) of the infants were male and 42,584 (48.6%) were female, resulting in a sex ratio of 1,059 males per every 1,000 females.
  
  
• In 2000, there were 10,968 live births to mothers under 20 years of age – 12.5% of the total number of live births. Of these, 8,793 were born to white women under age 20 (11.5% of the white births) and 2,068 were born to black women under age 20 (22.0% of the black births).
  
  
• For a large majority of births, both the mother and the father were white (76.7%). Both the mother and father were black for 6.2% of births. For 12.9% of births, the race of the father was not reported.
  
  
• The age-specific birth rate for women age 15-19 was slightly lower in 2000 (49.1) than in 1999 (51.3).
  
  
• The 2000 general fertility rate (GFR) was 66.2 births per 1,000 women age 15-44 years old compared to a 1999 GFR of 64.8 per 1,000 women 15-44 years old.
  
  
• In 2000, the total fertility rate (TFR) was 2,075 for all races combined. This rate is 1.2% below the theoretical replacement level rate of 2,100. The TFRs for white and black women were 2,129 and 2,316 respectively.
  
  
• The proportion of live-born infants classified as low birth weight (LBW; less than 2,500 grams or 5 lb. 8 oz) increased from 6.6% in 1990 to 7.3% in 2000. Infants born to black mothers were almost twice as likely to be LBW (12.7%) as infants born to white mothers (6.7%).
  
  
• Approximately 1.4% of all live-born infants were classified as very low birth weight (VLBW; less than 1,500 grams or 3 lb. 5 oz). Infants born to black mothers were more than twice as likely to weigh less than 1,500 grams (2.9%) than were infants born to white mothers (1.2%).
  
  
• In Indiana, about one fifth (20.2%) of women who gave birth in 2000 reported smoking during their pregnancy, compared with only 12.2% nationwide in 2000. White mothers (21.1%) were more likely than black mothers (15.2%) to report smoking during pregnancy.
  
  
• Statewide, 79.4% of mothers began prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy. White mothers were more likely to have early prenatal care (81.0%) than were black mothers (67.1%).
  
  
• Slightly over one-third (34.6%) of all live births in Indiana in 2000 were to unmarried parents. Significantly more black mothers (75.9%) than white mothers (29.8%) were not married to the infant’s father at the time of the birth.

Table of Contents