Categories: For Midwives

Home Births in the United States, 1990–2009 by Marian F. MacDorman, Ph.D.; T.J. Mathews, M.S.; and Eugene Declercq, Ph.D. The authors found that home birth is on the rise in the US.

Article available at: <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db84.pdf> http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db84.pdf

Key findings:

After a decline from 1990 to 2004, the percentage of U.S. births that occurred at home
increased by 29%, from 0.56% of births in 2004 to 0.72% in 2009.

For non-Hispanic white women, home births increased by 36%, from 0.80% in 2004
to 1.09% in 2009. About 1 in every 90 births for non-Hispanic white women is now
a home birth. Home births are less common among women of other racial or ethnic groups.

Home births are more common among women aged 35 and over, and among women
with several previous children.

Home births have a lower risk profile than hospital births, with fewer births to teenagers
or unmarried women, and with fewer preterm, low birthweight, and multiple births.

The percentage of home births in 2009 varied from a low of 0.2% of births in
Louisiana and the District of Columbia, to a high of 2.0% in Oregon and 2.6% in Montana