Home Births in the U.S. Increase to Highest Level in 30 Years

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For Immediate Release: November 17, 2022

Contact: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, Office of Communication (301) 458-4800
E-mail: paoquery@cdc.gov

Home births in the United States rose 12% from 2020 to 2021, and reached the highest level since at least 1990. These findings are included in a new report to be released on Thursday by CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

The report “Changes in Home Births by Race and Hispanic Origin and State of Residence of the Mother: United States, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021” examines changes in the percentage of home births in the United States from 2019 to 2020 and from 2020 to 2021 broken down by race and Hispanic origin, month, and state of residence.

Other findings documented in the report:

  • The 12% increase in home births from 2020 to 2021 follows a 22% increase from 2019 to 2020, with increases by maternal race and Hispanic origin ranging from 21%-36%.
  • The percentage of home births for all U.S. women increased between 2020 and 2021 for most months, peaking in January 2021 at 1.51%.
    From 2020 to 2021, the percentage of home births increased in 30 states, with increases ranging from 8% for Florida to 49% for West Virginia.
  • There were 51,642 home births in 2021, an increase of 13% from 2020 (45,646). This increase followed a 19% rise in the number of home births from 2019 (38,506) to 2020.
  • For (non-Hispanic) White women, the percentage of home births increased 10%, from about 1.9% of all births in 2020 to almost 2.1% in 2021. This followed a 21% increase from 2019 (1.55%) to 2020.
  • Home births among (non-Hispanic) Black women increased 21%, from 0.68% to 0.82% of all births from 2020 to 2021. The percentage of home births increased 36% from 2019 (0.50%) to 2020.
  • For Hispanic women, home births increased from 0.48% in 2020 to 0.55% in 2021, an increase of 15%. The percentage of home births increased 30% from 2019 (0.37%) to 2020.

The home births report will be available on the NCHS web site at www.cdc.gov/nchs.