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table below contains numbers of births to New Jersey residents
by mother's municipality of residence for the years 1998-2005. Data
for 1989-1997 are available on another
page. Data for years after 2005 are available on the New Jersey State Health Assessment (NJSHAD) query system, along with data for 1990-2005.
The 1998 data year marks the inception of a new and more accurate
processing method for the geocoding of address information. There
are some inconsistencies with previous years' data at the municipality
level - and to a much lesser degree at the county level - due
to the new procedures. In most cases this occurs where adjoining
municipalities share a zip code; therefore, an unusual variation
in birth data for a particular municipality may be resolved by
examining the relative changes in nearby towns. In particular,
portions of Burlington County may show marked irregularities over
prior years due to the improved assignment of military residence
addresses within municipal boundaries.
Two additional improvements were made with the processing of
the 1999 data. First, it was determined that the original municipality
assigned was usually more accurate than the municipality assigned
by the geocoding software if the software returned an error code.
So, in those cases, the original municipality was used. This leads
to the assignment of some records to McGuire Air Force Base, Fort
Dix, and Fort Monmouth when the software could not make a match
at the zip+4 level. Second, efforts were made to identify true
street addresses when post office boxes were given as a mailing
address. When a post office box address is used, the geocoding
software assigns the record the municipality at the center of
the zip code centroid, which may be problematic in cases where
zip codes cross municipality boundaries or where the zip code
boundaries are irregular in shape.
Note that Pahaquarry Township in Warren County merged into Hardwick
Township, also in Warren County, effective July 1, 1997. Therefore,
there will be no listing for Pahaquarry for 1998 and subsequent
years.
Other sources for New Jersey birth data:
Births by municipality for 1990 and subsequent years are available through the New Jersey State Health Assessment Data (NJSHAD) query system. Data are often posted on NJSHAD several weeks before other tables and reports are prepared and posted.
State-, county-, and municipality-level births by age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, and marital status of the mother; sex and birth weight of the child; trimester in which prenatal care began; and many other characteristics are also available for 1990 and subsequent years on NJSHAD.
Download Excel version of 1998-2005 table
Download PDF version of 1998-2005 table
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