The Right Start in Michigan and Its Counties - 2011

Michigan Mothers and Their Babies: Overview and Trends 2000-2009 The Right Start in Michigan is the Kids Count annual review of mothers' and babies' well-being.  Over the decade between 2000 and 2009, Michigan improved on three of the five indicators where a trend could be calculated. The biggest improvement was the 13 percent decline in teen mothers who were having another baby - dropping from 21 percent to 18 percent of teen births. Teen births and preterm births also dropped over the decade. The most dramatic worsening was the 20 percent increase in births to unmarried women. The percentage of low-birthweight babies weighing less than 5.5 pounds rose slightly. In 2009 more Michigan babies were born to mothers in economically insecure circumstances than in 2000. Roughly half of Michigan infants were born to low-income mothers eligible for Medicaid, and births to unmarried mothers represented roughly 40 percent of all births in 2009. Women unmarried at the birth of their child are likely to remain single parents with the heightened risk of poverty. The full Right Start in Michigan and its Counties - 2011 report is available on the Michigan League for Human Services website.

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