Statistics

Midwives are the most common birth attendants in the world
In the United States, midwives attended 297,902, or 9.5% of all births in 2000
Approximately 40,588 or 1% are births at home
Taos County New Mexico has the highest percentage of home births nationally at almost 25%. This is due to a long history of midwives and their continuity in the health system
There are 5,700 nurse-midwives in practice in the US
There are 1,215 Certified Professional Midwives
There are 10 MEAC accredited direct entry midwifery schools in the US
There are 47 ACNM accredited nurse-midwifery education programs in the US
Outcomes of Planned Home births with a Certified Professional Midwife in 2000
98.4 % of all the mothers were in good health after birth
98.3% of all the babies were in good health after birth
99% initiated breastfeeding and 95.8% were still breastfeeding at 6 weeks!
Episiotomy rate = 2.1% (compared to 33.0%)
Cesarean Section rate = 3.7% (compared to 19% nationally) - It is now up to 30 % nationally
Infant mortality rate = 1.7 in 1000 live births (similar to hospital outcomes for low risk)
No maternal deaths