Multiple Births by Regional Residents

According to data from the NYS Department of Health, out of approximately 32,600 births in the region during the period 2002 to 2011, more than 1,200 of those births involved a "plurality" of babies - or multiple birth in more colloquial terms. The graphic below gives you an idea what that means overall.

Here's the total number of multiple births in the region from 2002-2011. Click the graph to enlarge it.

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Declining Annual Birth Rates 2005-2012

As the two graphics below suggest, our region is following suit with both the state and the country when it comes to annual births. Each has seen a declining birth rate for some time. Click either to enlarge it.

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Declining Fertility Rates for Prime Child Bearing Age Women in the ACS: 2005 to 2013

 
The fertility rate has been declining for American families for decades, particularly among prime child bearing aged women, 20 to 34 years of age. The American Communities Survey now let's us look at that more closely, on an annual basis for the region, state and nation. The graph below shows the declining fertility rate per thousand females age 20 to 34 for the Herkimer-Oneida Counties region, New York State, and the US for the period 2005 to 2013.

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2010 National Teen Birth Rates From the CDC

There is interesting piece about teen pregnancy from the Centers for Disease Control on Yahoo News, and it does have some good news: teen births are at their lowest level in more than 60 years. The CDC reported that the U.S. teen birth rate dropped 9% from 2009 to 2010, reaching a historic low of 34.3 births per 1,000 teens aged 15 to 19. This is 43% below their peak in 1970. It attributed the drop to several factors, including strong pregnancy-prevention messages aimed at teens and increased use of contraception. But the geographic variation is substantial.

Teen birthrates are highest in Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas, and New Mexico,. There are slightly lower concentrations in the neighboring states of Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Arizona. On the other end of the equation, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts have the lowest rates of teen births.