HIGHLIGHTS

Births

• The New Jersey crude birth rate dropped below 14.0 per 1,000 population for the first time in fifteen years.



• The birth rate for females aged 15-17 was 16.6 per 1,000.



• For the first time, the age group with the highest birth rate (111.2 per 1,000) was women aged 30-34.



• The median age of first-time mothers in 2000 was 27.8.



• More than half of black non-Hispanic women, Hispanic women, and women under the age of 25 who gave birth in 2000 were unmarried. Nearly 80 percent of Camden’s births were to unmarried women.



• Less than three-quarters of mothers delivering in 2000 received prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy. Non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics, foreign-born women, unmarried women, and women with less education lagged behind the statewide average for onset of prenatal care.



• Self-reports of smoking, drinking, and drug use while pregnant decreased from 1999 to 2000.



• The percentage of non-Hispanic black newborns of low birth weight decreased from 1999 but was still 1.76 times the overall percentage of low birth weight babies.



• The low birth weight rate was nearly four times higher when mothers received no prenatal care than when mothers received first trimester prenatal care.



• Triplet, quadruplet, and higher order births declined as a percentage of all births to levels not seen since the early 1990s.



• The cesarean delivery rate continued to rise and the vaginal birth after previous cesarean (VBAC) rate continued to decline.

Deaths

• Life expectancy for New Jersey residents born in 2000 was 77.6 years.



• The age-adjusted death rate for males was 44 percent higher than for females and the rate for blacks was 33 percent higher than that of whites in 2000.



• Heart disease, cancer, and stroke remained the three leading causes of death and accounted for 62 percent of all deaths in 2000.



• Unintentional injuries were the leading cause of death of persons under age 44.



• Cancer was the leading cause of death of persons aged 45-64.



• The age-adjusted death rate for lung cancer was higher than the rates for all other causes of death except heart disease and combined cancers.



• There were 794 deaths from drug-related causes, 500 from alcohol-related causes, and 341 from firearms in 2000.



• The infant mortality rate reached an all-time low of 6.3 deaths per 1,000 live births. The fetal death rate was 6.6 per 1,000 live births plus fetal deaths.



• The non-Hispanic black infant and fetal mortality rates were more than three times the rates for non-Hispanic whites and more than twice the rates for Hispanics.



• Multiple births, low birth weight, prematurity, lack of prenatal care, maternal age under 20 or over 40 years, unmarried mothers, and maternal smoking during pregnancy were factors in fetal and infant deaths.



• Congenital malformations, deformations, and chromosomal abnormalities were the leading cause of infant deaths. Complications of placenta, cord, and membranes were the leading cause of fetal deaths.

Marriages and Divorces

• The median ages of brides and grooms marrying in 2000 were up slightly to 29.6 and 31.5, respectively, for all marriages and were 27.6 and 29.3, respectively, for first marriages.



• In nearly 10 percent of marriages occurring in 2000, brides were ten or more years younger than their grooms. Only 2 percent of grooms were at least ten years younger than their brides.



• One-quarter of brides and grooms marrying in 2000 were previously divorced.