Births: preliminary data for 2012.

Objectives-This report presents preliminary data for 2012 on births in the United States. U.S. data on births are shown by age, live-birth order, race, and Hispanic origin of mother. Data on marital status, cesarean delivery, preterm births, and low birthweight are also presented. Methods-Data in this report are based on 99.96% of 2012 births.Records for the few states with less than 100% of records received are weighted to independent control counts of all births received in state vital statistics offices in 2012. Comparisons are made with final 2011 data. Results-The preliminary number of births for the United States in 2012 was 3,952,937, essentially unchanged (not statistically significant) from 2011; the…