Health Figures

NOTE: Late preterm infants are born at 34–36 weeks of gestation; early preterm infants are born at less than 34 weeks of gestation. Moderately low-birthweight infants weigh 1,500–2,499 grams at birth; very low-birthweight infants weigh less than 1,500 grams at birth. Gestational age is estimated using the obstetric estimate of gestational delivery. Data on low birthweight can be found in table HEALTH1.B.

SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System—Natality.

NOTE: NH = non-Hispanic origin; AIAN = American Indian or Alaska Native; NHOPI = Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. Race and Hispanic origin refer to the mother's race and Hispanic origin. The 1997 U.S. Office of Management and Budget standards for data on race and ethnicity were used to classify people into one of the following five racial groups: White; Black or African American; Asian; American Indian or Alaska Native; or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. All categories are single race. Data on race and Hispanic origin are collected and reported separately. People of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System—Natality.

NOTE: NH = non-Hispanic origin; AIAN = American Indian or Alaska Native; NHOPI = Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. Infant deaths are deaths before an infant's first birthday. Race and Hispanic origin refer to the mother's race and Hispanic origin. The 1997 U.S. Office of Management and Budget standards for data on race and ethnicity were used to classify people into one of the following five racial groups: White; Black or African American; Asian; American Indian or Alaska Native; or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. All categories are single race. Data on race and Hispanic origin are collected and reported separately. People of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System—Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set.

NOTE: Emotional or behavioral difficulties of children were based on parental responses to the following question on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire⁴: "Overall, do you think that [child's name] has difficulties in one or more of the following areas: emotions, concentration, behavior, or being able to get along with other people?" Response choices were (1) no, no difficulties; (2) yes, minor difficulties; (3) yes, definite difficulties; and (4) yes, severe difficulties. Children with serious emotional or behavioral difficulties were defined as those whose parent responded "yes, definite difficulties" or "yes, severe difficulties." These difficulties may be similar to but do not equate with the definition of serious emotional disturbance used by the Federal government for planning purposes. In 2019, the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) questionnaire was redesigned, and other changes were made to weighting and design methodology. Therefore, data for 2019 onward are not strictly comparable with data for earlier years. Starting in 2019, questions based on the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire are included in the 3-year rotating core. For more information on the 2019 NHIS redesign, see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/about/2019-questionnaire-redesign.html.

SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey.

NOTE: NH = non-Hispanic origin. The child disability measure is defined by a composite of responses to 13 core functioning domains: (1) seeing; (2) hearing; (3) mobility; (4) self-care; (5) communication; (6) learning; (7) remembering; (8) concentrating; (9) accepting change; (10) controlling behavior; (11) making friends; (12) anxiety; and (13) depression. A child is considered to have disability if their parent reports "a lot of difficulty" or "cannot do at all" to at least one of the first 11 domains or reports "daily" to domains 12 or 13. A child is considered without disability if their parent reports "no difficulty" or "some difficulty" to all the first 11 domains and "never," "a few times a year," "monthly," or "weekly" to domains 12 and 13. Data on race are based on the 1997 U.S. Office of Management and Budget standards for data on race and ethnicity. Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey.

NOTE: A body mass index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile is defined as "obesity." Before America's Children, 2010, a BMI at or above the 95th percentile of the sex-specific BMI growth charts was termed overweight (https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts). Estimates of people with obesity are comparable with estimates of people who were overweight in past reports.⁷ The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) program suspended field operations in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, data collection for the 2019–2020 cycle was not completed. Therefore, data collected from 2019 to March 2020 were combined with data from the 2017–2018 cycle to create a 2017–March 2020 pre-pandemic file. This file covers 3.2 years of data collection. For more information, see https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/continuousnhanes/overviewbrief.aspx?Cycle=2017-2020. NHANES data collection resumed in August 2021 with a new 2-year sample design to reduce contact between interviewers and survey participants during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Although the sample design was similar to previous NHANES cycles, there was no oversampling by race and Hispanic origin, income, or age. For more information on the August 2021–August 2023 sample design and methodological changes, see https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/continuousnhanes/OverviewBrief.aspx?Cycle=2021-2023.

SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

NOTE: Children are identified as ever diagnosed with asthma by asking parents, "Has a doctor or other health professional EVER told you that [child's name] had asthma?" If the parent responds "yes" to this question, they are then asked (1) "Does [child's name] still have asthma?" and (2) "During the past 12 months, has [child's name] had an episode of asthma or an asthma attack?" The question "Does [child's name] still have asthma?" was introduced in 2001 and identifies children who currently have asthma. In 2019, the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) questionnaire was redesigned and other changes were made to weighting and design methodology. Therefore, data for 2019 are not strictly comparable with data for earlier years. For more information on the 2019 NHIS redesign, see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/EReval202009-508.pdf.

SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey.