Utah's birthrate highest in U.S.

Perlich adds that Utah's high fertility rate means Utah "permanently will have more children per capita than other states." That coupled with the aging baby boom generation entering retirement years also means that workers in the state "will be carrying more dependents" than most states and make it a challenge to fund such things as schools.

The new estimates say that 83.2 of every 1,000 Utah women ages 15 to 50 gave birth in 2006. The national average was 54.9. So Utah's rate was 52 percent higher.

No other state was even close. The state with the second highest fertility rate was Nebraska, with a rate of 70.2 births per 1,000 women.

The state with the nation's lowest fertility rate was New Hampshire at 42.0 per 1,000, or merely about half of Utah's rate.

The lion's share of Utah women who gave birth were married. Census estimates say 14.3 percent of those who gave birth in 2006 had never been married — about half the national average of 28.4 percent.

At the other end of the spectrum, almost half of the women who gave birth in the District of Columbia — 48.5 percent — had never been married.

Utah apparently has more stay-at-home moms than average, even though about half of those who gave birth did have jobs. Estimates say 46.6 percent of Utah women who gave birth were in the labor force, compared to a national average of 57.3 percent. Iowa had the highest percentage at 72 percent.

Bloebaum said because more Utah mothers are married, "perhaps because of their husband's income they may not be as likely to work." Also, she said Utahns tends to have more children, so staying at home may make more economic sense than working and paying for child care.

Utah had the lowest percentage of all births that were to mothers receiving cash public assistance: 17.5 percent, compared to a national average of 30.8 percent.

Utah ranked sixth lowest in the number of women who gave birth who were in poverty, 16.7 percent, compared to a national average of 25.2 percent.

Perlich said, "Our population marries at a higher rate than is the case nationally, so there are fewer single moms. There is a high correlation between single moms and poverty. So when a higher proportion is married, there is a lower poverty rate."

Utah was 21st lowest in the number of women who gave birth who lack high school degrees, 14.5 percent, compared to a national average 17.9 percent. And 13.9 percent of Utah women who gave birth were foreign-born, compared to a national average of 20 percent.

Some national-level data from the new estimates were also interesting. The Census figures that 20 percent of women ages 40 to 44 were childless in 2006, or twice as high as the level 30 years earlier.

Also, the highest levels of current fertility were among those with a graduate or professional degree.

Also, women receiving public assistance have a fertility rate three times higher than those who do not receive it. Those receiving it had a birthrate of 155 babies per 1,000 women, compared to 53 births per 1,000 women not receiving it.

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E-mail: lee@desnews.com