General Health Data: Birth Statistics

About

The following reports provide information on Tennessee resident pregnancies and live births reported to the Office of Vital Records by county and metropolitan health departments, hospitals, midwives, and other health providers. The published reports include statistics on general and age-specific fertility rates, infant health conditions like preterm birth and low birthweight, and breastfeeding initiation. These results are presented alongside geographic, age, race, and ethnicity information for the pregnancy and birth events.

Birth statistics are based only on pregnancies that result in a live birth as defined by TCA § 68-3-102(10). Reports on Tennessee resident pregnancies include live births, fetal deaths (spontaneous miscarriages of 20 weeks or greater gestation or birthweight of at least 350 grams), and induced terminations of pregnancy (abortion).

Terminology

Singleton live births: Pregnancies that produce and result in the delivery of one infant.

Crude birth rate: The number of births for every 1,000 residents in the indicated population, where the population includes men, women, and people of all ages.

General fertility rate: The number of births for every 1,000 female residents in the indicated population that are in reproductive ages, between 15 and 44. General fertility rate is preferred to the crude birth rate to measure population growth and change.

Age-specific fertility rate: The general fertility rate in an age group or the number of births for every 1,000 female residents in the indicated population within a specific age group. Teen pregnancies (e.g., ages 15-17) are an example of an age-specific fertility rate.

Total fertility rate: The OECD describes total fertility rate as “the total number of children that would be born to each woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years” and experience the same age-specific fertility rate at each stage of her life. Total fertility adds age-specific fertility rates in proportion to the number of years in each age group. A total fertility rate greater than 2.0 is considered replacement level.

Race and ethnicity: The Tennessee birth certificate records information on race and ethnicity of the parents according to how each parent identifies. Race and ethnicity are asked separately and each parent may describe themselves as identifying with up to 15 race categories and one of five (5) Hispanic or non-Hispanic origins.

For statistical presentation, Tennessee reports birth and pregnancy statistics according to the race and ethnicity with which the mother or pregnant woman identifies. This follows 1997 Office of Management and Budged (OMB) standards on race and ethnicity and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) approaches. The race and ethnicity of the infant or fetus is not separately collected or calculated from the reported races and ethnicities of the parents.

Birth and pregnancy reports show race as a single, predominant race that is estimated from the race or races that describe the pregnant woman and from the demographic characteristics of their county of residence. Predominant race is based on the bridged race methodology created by CDC-NCHS. Ethnicity is tabulated separately from race such that counts or rates represent individuals of Hispanic origin, regardless of race.

Pregnancies and General Fertility Rates by Demographic Groups and Geographic Area

Reports of all recorded Tennessee resident pregnancies regardless of outcome; includes live births, fetal deaths, and induced terminations of pregnancy.

Live Births and Rates by Demographic Groups and Geographic Area

Reports of Tennessee resident live births and fertility rates.

Selected Live Birth Outcomes and Infant Conditions

Reports of Tennessee resident live births with counts and percentages describing the incidence of selected outcomes or conditions.

Note: The methodological approaches for tabulating reports on Preterm Birth, Low Birthweight, Breastfeeding Initiation, and Marital Status were revised in November 2020 for births occurring in 2019 and forward.

Specifically, when the outcome of the selected condition is unknown, the record is defined as missing for statistical purposes and is not included in the total count of events. This follows the approach used by the National Center for Health Statistics for the presentation of birth statistics.

Counts for these events may not sum to the total number of births. Rates and percentages are based on the total number of births where the outcome being analyzed is known and valid. The number of excluded cases is listed in each report. Data users should take care when comparing tables prepared for 2019 and forward with reports from previous years.