Birth by Numbers

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Kings County has the highest fertility rate of any county in New York State. These expectant fathers put the finishing touches on the diapered babies in Brooklyn in 1947. (Image Courtesy: AP)
Kings County has the highest fertility rate of any county in New York State. In 1947, these expectant fathers in Brooklyn practiced putting diapers on babies. (Image Courtesy: AP)

By Audrey Yoo

Strollers are everywhere in Brooklyn. So the Ink decided to see how the borough stacks up when it comes to babies.

FERTILE GROUND

73.8

Brooklyn’s 2008 fertility rate (number of live births per 1,000 females aged 15-44)
61.2 New York State’s average fertility rate in the same year
16.3 Brooklyn’s 2008 birth rate (number of live births per 1,000 people regardless of sex and age) – the second highest in the state
16.5 New York State’s highest birth rate in the Bronx

NEW BABIES

33% of all newborns in New York City in 2009 were born in Brooklyn
41,803 Number of newborns in Brooklyn in 2009
35.6%


of all Brooklyn newborns were born in the following neighborhoods: Borough Park (5,275), Williamsburg and Greenpoint (3,423), Crown Heights (3,143), and Sunset Park (3,041)

MOST COMMON ANCESTRIES OF NEW MOTHERS IN 2009

7,062 African American
4,782 Jewish/Hebrew
3,636 Chinese
3,624 American
2,627 Mexican

ADULT PREGNANCIES

130.4 women out of 1,000 female Brooklynites of childbearing age were pregnant in 2008
20-34 Age range in which most pregnancies occurred

TEENAGE PREGNANCIES

7,341 teenage girls aged 15 to 19 delivered a baby in Kings County in 2008
82 out of 1,000 teenage Brooklynites were pregnant in 2008 – the second highest in the state
109.1 The state’s highest teenage pregnancy rate in the Bronx
41.5 National teenage pregnancy rate
59% of Brooklyn’s teenage pregnancies in 2008 resulted in induced abortion
2,718 Teenage pregnancies resulted in live births and 255 in spontaneous fetal deaths

BORN OUT-OF-WEDLOCK

42.2% of all babies delivered in Brooklyn were born to unmarried mothers in 2009
41% National percentage of babies born to unmarried mothers

BIRTH FACILITIES & PAYMENT

78% of all live births in Brooklyn took place in hospitals in 2009
7,741 babies were born in Maimonides Medical Center
95 babies were born at the Brooklyn Birthing Center
274 babies were born at home
64% of all live births were paid by Medicaid in 2008
32% of all live births were paid by private insurance companies

Sources: New York State Department of Health Vital Statistics of NYS 2008, Summary of Vital Statistics 2009 The City of New York, National Vital Statistics Reports.

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