The United States has seen the highest level of home births in 30 years, according to the National Vital Statistics.
According to birth certificate data, home births have been on a steady rise from 1990 to 2019 by an average of 2% per year, however those numbers dramatically increased during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic where the home birth rate climbed 22%, from 1.03% to 1.26%, between 2019 and 2020, and another 12%, to 1.41%, in 2021.
Per the report, 2% of births among White women occurred at home in 2021, the highest rate of any racial or ethnic group. Black and Hispanic women have experienced the largest increase in home birth rates in recent years with home births among Black women increased 36%, from 0.50% in 2019 to 0.68% in 2020, and 21%, to 0.82%.
Home births among Hispanic women saw an increase of 30%, from 0.37% of all deliveries in this group in 2019 to 0.48% in 2020, and by another 15%, to 0.55%, in 2021.
The greatest increase in home births overall took place in January through March of 2021 compared with the same months in 2020
