2006 KIDS COUNT Data Book Online

Percent Low-Birthweight Babies
Babies weighing less than 2,500 grams (about 5.5 pounds) at birth have a high probability of experiencing developmental problems. Although low-birthweight babies were only 7.8 percent of all births in 2002 they accounted for 68 percent of infant deaths that year. The risk of dying during the first year of life for low-birthweight babies (59.5 deaths per 1,000 births) is nearly 25 times that for babies of normal birthweight (2.4 deaths per 1,000 births). Therefore, the Percent Low-Birthweight Babies reflects a group of children who are likely to experience a higher than average rate of problems as they grow older.

• Nationally, 324,064 babies were born weighing less than 2,500 grams in 2003. Low-birthweight babies were 7.9 percent of all births in 2003, compared to 7.6 percent in 2000.
  
  
• This represents a 4 percent increase in low-weight births over the 2000 to 2003 period.
  
  
• Between 2000 and 2003, the percent of low-birthweight babies worsened in 47 states and improved in only 3 states, plus the District of Columbia.
  
  
• Among the states, the incidence of low-birthweight babies in 2003 ranged from a low of 6.0 percent in Alaska and Washington to a high of 11.4 percent in Mississippi.
  
  
• The percent of black low-weight births (13.4) is at least 72 percent higher than any other group examined.

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