The birth rate for Indianapolis in 2003, the most recent year for which data are available, was 17.0 (per 1,000 of total population). This exceeds the Indiana rate of 13.9.

Source: STATS Indiana and the Indiana Department of Health, 2003

The previous screen showed that Indianapolis has a higher fertility rate that most other counties in Indiana. What jumps out from this chart, the information for which came from Indiana Department of Health birth records, is that Indianapolis teens and women younger than 24 years have significantly more births than their counterparts across the state.

The chart shows birth rates for Indianapolis and Indiana for nine age cohorts. Indianapolis is higher in each of the four youngest categories, but lower in age cohorts between 25 and 34 years, which may be the prime years for developing a work career. Indianapolis women appear to either have their children very young, or to defer child-bearing until their mid-30s. These findings are consistent across all racial groups in Indianapolis.

The rate of childbirth among women in their teens and early 20s is certainly higher in Indianapolis than across Indiana. But as we already have observed, there are fewer people in that age group in Indianapolis. Consequently, childbirth among teens is just about as common throughout the state as it is in Indianapolis. For Indiana, 11 percent of all babies born in 2003 had teenaged mothers. In Indianapolis, it was 12.6 percent of all births.