Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Infant Birth and Prenatal Care
| Categories | Demographics & Population, Education & Childcare, Healthcare Access & Infrastructure, Health Status & Conditions |
|---|---|
| Detail | count of births, number and percent of infants with low birth weight, number and percent of infants by delivery method, number and percent of mothers by age and by prenatal care, number and percent of mothers with maternal health conditions |
| Download Available | yes |
| Geographies | County, State |
| Last Updated on PolicyMap | April 2026 |
| Public Edition or Subscriber-only | Public Edition |
| Source | CDC National Center for Health Statistics |
| Years Available | 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 |
Description:
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) dataset provides the number of births, the number and percent of infants born with birth weight under 2,500 ounces (low birthweight), the number and percent of infants born with birth weight under 1,500 ounces (very low birthweight), the number and percent of infants born vaginally or by cesarean section, the number and percent of births where prenatal care began during the first trimester and the number and percent of births where prenatal care was received in only the third trimester or not at all, the number and percent of births by the number of prenatal visits the mother attended, and the number and percent of births by mothers with specified maternal health condition (eclampsia, gestational diabetes, pre-pregnancy diabetes, gestational hypertension, pre-pregnancy hypertension). The CDC only reports numbers of births for counties with populations exceeding 100,000.
The CDC also provides numbers and rates for mothers under age 20. Additionally, this dataset includes the number and percent of births to mothers under the age of 20, with break outs for mother under age 18 and mothers 18 and 19 for select years. Data on prenatal care is only available for counties with populations of 100,000 or more.
PolicyMap has suppressed data for geographies where .4% or more of the birth characteristics, prenatal care, or maternal health condition indicators were unknown to the CDC.
Beginning in 2007, data are reported from the 2003 U.S. standard Certificate of Live Birth, with additions of information on birth anomalies and several less variables related to maternal risk factors than the previous 2003 revision. In 2023, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released new guidance on the number of prenatal visits a mother should have, recommending that the number of visits should be based on the individual needs of a mother, rather than a baseline value. Due to this, PolicyMap has changed the indicator “Less than Recommended 8 Prenatal Visits” to “8 or Fewer Prenatal Visits”.