Why Is This Important?

Tracking birth rate patterns among New Jersey and U.S. residents as a whole is critical to understanding population growth and change in this country and in New Jersey.

Definition

Number of live births in a given year per 1,000 persons in the population

Data Sources

• Birth Certificate Database, Office of Vital Statistics and Registry, New Jersey Department of Health
  (https://www.nj.gov/health/vital/)
• Bridged-race population estimates, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/bridged_race.htm)
• Natality public-use data, CDC WONDER On-line Database, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  (https://wonder.cdc.gov/natality.html)

How the Measure is Calculated

How Are We Doing?

Birth rates vary widely across the state. Counties with high populations of older persons will have lower birth rates than those with younger, childbearing-age persons. Birth rates also vary by race/ethnicity with Hispanics having 1.6 times the birth rate of Whites. The rates among Asians/Pacific Islanders and Blacks fall in between.

How Do We Compare With the U.S.?

Since the early 1990s, the birth rate among New Jersey residents has followed the same trend as that of the nation as a whole. The New Jersey birth rate was below that of the U.S. until 2021 and 2022 when the state and national rates were essentially equal.

What Is Being Done?

The Division of [http://www.nj.gov/health/fhs/maternalchild/ Family Health Services] in the New Jersey Department of Health administers programs to enhance the health, safety, and well-being of families and communities in New Jersey.

More Resources

National Center for Health Statistics Birth/Natality Fast Stats: [http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/births.htm] National Center for Health Statistics Birth Data: [http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/births.htm]