Table 2.
Percent of births with selected characteristics by place of birth, United States, 2017
| All births, n=3,855,500 |
Hospital, n=3,793,272 |
Out of hospital+, n=62,228 |
Birth center, n=19,878 |
Home #, n=38,343 |
Planned home * #, n=28,994 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age of mother (years) | ||||||
| <20 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.7 |
| 20–34 | 77.3 | 77.3 | 77.1 | 81.0 | 74.9 | 75.8 |
| 35+ | 17.6 | 17.5 | 21.5 | 18.1 | 23.6 | 23.5 |
| Mother’s education - | ||||||
| Bachelor’s degree or | 32.3 | 32.2 | 38.6 | 47.8 | 35.6 | 36.3 |
| First live birth | 37.9 | 38.2 | 23.3 | 33.4 | 18.5 | 17.7 |
| Smoked during pregnancy | 6.9 | 7.0 | 3.0 | 1.1 | 3.3 | 0.9 |
| Pre-pregnancy Body Mass Index | ||||||
| Underweight (<18.5) | 3.4 | 3.4 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 4.2 |
| Normal weight (20.0–24. | 43.3 | 43.1 | 59.5 | 61.1 | 59.4 | 60.4 |
| Overweight (25.0–29.9) | 26.2 | 26.3 | 22.4 | 22.0 | 22.3 | 22.2 |
| Obese (30+) | 27.1 | 27.3 | 13.9 | 13.0 | 13.9 | 13.2 |
| Preterm birth | 11.6 | 11.8 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 5.2 | 2.1 |
| Low birthweight | 8.3 | 8.4 | 3.6 | 0.9 | 4.2 | 1.3 |
| Multiple birth | 3.4 | 3.5 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 0.7 |
| VBAC ^ | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.4 | 1.7 | 4.1 | 4.2 |
| Trimester prenatal care began | ||||||
| 1st trimseter | 77.3 | 77.6 | 60.3 | 69.4 | 56.2 | 55.8 |
| 2nd trimester | 16.5 | 16.3 | 28.4 | 24.5 | 30.6 | 33.3 |
| Late or no prenatal care | 6.3 | 6.2 | 11.3 | 6.1 | 13.2 | 10.9 |
| Attendant at birth | ||||||
| Physician | 89.2 | 90.6 | 4.3 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 0.7 |
| CNM/CM | 9.1 | 8.7 | 34.1 | 56.6 | 24.4 | 29.4 |
| Other midwife | 0.8 | 0.1 | 41.2 | 36.7 | 45.6 | 50.7 |
| Other | 0.8 | 0.5 | 20.3 | 3.9 | 26.4 | 19.1 |
| Breastfeeding initiation~ | 82.2 | 82.0 | 93.5 | 97.8 | 92.3 | 97.5 |
| Receipt of WIC food | 38.1 | 38.5 | 11.9 | 10.2 | 11.4 | 6.9 |
| Method of payment for delivery | ||||||
| Medicaid | 43.0 | 43.4 | 17.5 | 17.9 | 15.4 | 8.6 |
| Private insurance | 49.1 | 49.4 | 29.6 | 47.5 | 20.6 | 19.0 |
| Self-pay | 4.1 | 3.4 | 48.9 | 32.2 | 59.4 | 67.9 |
| Other | 3.8 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 2.4 | 4.7 | 4.6 |
+
Category includes 3273 “other”, 553 “clinic or doctor’s office”, and 181 “unknown” location.
#
Does not include planned home births that were transferred to hospitals.
*
Excudes data from California which did not report planning status of home birth.
^
The percent of births for each place of birth that were vaginal births after cesarean.
~
Breastfeeding initiation was not reported for California and Michigan.
Source: Authors’ calculations based on 2017 birth certificate data.