Politics & Government

Orange County's Birth Rate Drops Dramatically

Since 2000, the county's birth rate dropped 23 percent, a decline twice the rate of the national average. The county also saw declining birth rates among teens, and low birth rates among whites.

Orange County's birth rate over the last decade declined substantially more than the state and the nation, according to a report from the Orange County Health Care Agency, which also shows county officials are meeting most of their goals for healthy births.

Birth rates nationally and locally remained flat through much of the past decade, but started a steady decline in 2008 when the Great Recession began, according to the report. By 2010, birth rates dropped to a 10-year low.

The national birth date dipped 10 percent in the decade, the state's birth rate dropped 12 percent and a 23 percent drop in Orange County from 16.5 births per 1,000 population in 2000 to 12.7 per 1,000 in 2010.

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Orange County started the last decade with a higher birth rate than the national and state averages, but it started to drop after 2004.

The report also showed that in 2010, nearly one in three new mothers in Orange County lived in Santa Ana and Anaheim. Those two cities had the highest birth rates with 19.2 births per 1,000 residents in Santa Ana and 16.3 births per 1,000 residents in Anaheim.

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The retirement community of Laguna Woods had the lowest birth rate of 0.3 per 1,000 residents.

In 2010, half of the births were to mothers of Latino heritage with a birth rate of 18.7 per 1,000 population. Next was Asian/Pacific Islanders at 12.1 per 1,000 population, blacks at 11.1 per 1,000 population and whites at 8.8 per 1,000 population.

Birth rates among adolescents have been going down in Orange County, mirroring state and national averages.

"Orange County started with a lower adolescent birth rate of 38.3 in 2000 and has experienced the largest drop of 42 percent for a 10-year low of 22.4 births per 1,000 females 15-19 years of age," according to the report.

Adolescent mothers to a larger degree live in Santa Ana and not in the more affluent cities such as Newport Beach, according to the report.

"Orange County had a wide range of adolescent birth rates in 2010, from 53.5 births per 1,000 females 15-19 years of age in Santa Ana to a low of zero adolescent births in Villa Park and Laguna Woods," according to the report

"Nine cities, with higher adolescent birth rates than the county-wide rate of 22.4, were located in North and Central Orange County. The cities with the lowest adolescent birth rates included some of the more affluent cities such as Villa Park, Laguna Woods, Newport Beach (1.9), Seal Beach (2.1), and Irvine (2.4)."

The only category in which the county is not meeting its goals is with "repeat cesarean deliveries to low-risk mothers," according to the report.

"We are very pleased that Orange County has achieved six of the seven Healthy People 2020 goals related to births," County Health Officer Dr. Eric Handler said.

"But there is still more to do in reducing health disparities within our community. These successes notwithstanding, it is important for providers in the community to remain vigilant in order to maintain and improve on these areas."

- City News Service  


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