CENSUS: Dakotas’ Birth Rates Increasing

While the birth rate nationally continues to drop, the birth rates in the Dakotas continue to climb, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

North and South Dakota are two of the six states bucking the dropping birth rate trend, along with Delaware, New Hampshire, Virginia and Hawaii.

The national rate in 2013, the most recent statistics available, was 12.5 live births per 1,000 people.

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South Dakota’s rate was 14.6 births per 1,000 people and North Dakota’s was 14.7.

The rates for other Northern Plains states: Iowa, 12.6; Minnesota, 12.8; Montana, 12.1, Nebraska, 14.0 and Wyoming, 13.1.

Utah had the highest birthrate at 17.6 and New Hampshire had the lowest at 9.4 births per 1,000 births.