10 states with the fewest babies, from Vermont to New Hampshire

Vermont recorded 5,023 births in 2024. California recorded about as many in under five days. That contrast frames a ranking of the states with the fewest births, built on final 2024 natality data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

The analysis, conducted by Birth Injury Lawyer and published this year on worldhealth.net, lists the 10 states that recorded the smallest number of babies born that year. Vermont recorded the fewest, and New Hampshire closes out the group with 11,770 births. Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Delaware, Montana, South Dakota and Maine fill the places between them.

California sits at the other end of the scale. It recorded 402,075 births in 2024, roughly one every 78 seconds. The 10 states on this list recorded 96,401 births combined. That total equals 2.66% of all U.S. births, according to the study. California alone recorded more than four times as many babies as the entire group.

The method shapes how the results should be read. This is a ranking of birth counts, meaning the raw number of babies born in each state during 2024. It is not a ranking of birth rates, which measure births against the size of a population. The study says it also compared general fertility rates. It does not report a fertility rate for any individual state. A small count on its own says nothing about how many children families in that state have compared with families elsewhere.

The gaps within the list are wide at one end and narrow at the other. California recorded about 80 times as many births as Vermont but about 34.2 times as many as New Hampshire. Wyoming, in second place, recorded 1,066 more births than Vermont. Toward the 10th spot, the margins shrink. South Dakota, Maine and New Hampshire each accounted for 0.32% of U.S. births. Only 319 births separated eighth place from 10th.

Each entry that follows covers one state in rank order. It sets out the state's 2024 birth total, its share of national births and how its count compares with California's.

Illustration: Quartz

Vermont recorded 5,023 births in 2024, the smallest total of any U.S. state in final NCHS natality data. That count placed it first on a Birth Injury Lawyer study's list of the states with the fewest babies born, published on WorldHealth.net.

Those newborns made up 0.14% of all U.S. births that year. No other state accounted for a smaller share.

Spread across the 366 days of 2024, a leap year, Vermont's total works out to about 14 births a day.

Vermont is the only state on the list with fewer than 6,000 births. Every other state in the ranking passed that mark, and seven of them recorded more than 9,000.

Alaska, third on the list, recorded 3,920 more births than Vermont. Rhode Island, in fifth place, was the first state in the ranking to pass 10,000 births. Vermont's count was roughly half of Rhode Island's.

New Hampshire, which holds the 10th spot, recorded more than twice as many births as Vermont.

Vermont also supplied the smallest portion of the group's combined total. Its births equaled about 5.2% of all births recorded across the 10 states on the list.

Illustration: Quartz

Wyoming recorded 6,089 births in 2024, the second-lowest total of any U.S. state in final NCHS natality data. Only Vermont reported fewer babies that year.

Wyoming's births made up 0.17% of the national total for the year. California recorded about 66 times as many births as Wyoming, according to the Birth Injury Lawyer study.

On that share measure, Wyoming sat between Vermont at 0.14% and Alaska at 0.25%. Spread across the 366 days of 2024, Wyoming's total averages out to roughly 17 births a day.

The gap above Wyoming on the list is far wider than the gap below it. Third-place Alaska recorded 8,943 births, 2,854 more than Wyoming. That margin is more than twice the distance separating Wyoming from Vermont. In other words, Wyoming sits much closer to the bottom spot than to the rest of the list.

Wyoming and Vermont are the only two states on the list with fewer than 7,000 births. Together they recorded 11,112 births in 2024. That combined figure is smaller than the single-state totals for Montana, South Dakota, Maine and New Hampshire, the last four states in the bottom 10.

Wyoming is also one of four states on the list below 10,000 births, alongside Vermont, Alaska and North Dakota. New Hampshire, which closes out the list in 10th place, recorded nearly twice as many births as Wyoming. Wyoming accounted for about 6.3% of all births recorded across the 10 states.

Wyoming covers a large territory with few residents. In its remote areas, bad weather can turn long trips into a risk. Hospitals there have trouble hiring, which leaves them short of staff. Small numbers of patients also put financial pressure on hospitals.

Cheyenne has a nationally accredited birth center that operates independently of any hospital. A summit identified it as the only center of its kind in Wyoming.

Illustration: Quartz

Alaska recorded 8,943 births in 2024, the third-lowest total of any state. Those newborns made up 0.25% of all babies born in the U.S. that year, according to a Birth Injury Lawyer study of final NCHS natality data.

In the study's table, Alaska sits between Wyoming in second place, with 6,089 births, and North Dakota in fourth, with 9,634. Alaska's total ran 2,854 births above Wyoming's and 691 below North Dakota's. Measured as a share of national births, Alaska's 0.25% compares with 0.17% for Wyoming and 0.27% for North Dakota.

Alaska also recorded 3,920 more births than Vermont, the state with the fewest. Its count was 2,827 below New Hampshire's, the highest total on the list. Alaska was one of four states on the list to record fewer than 10,000 births, along with Vermont, Wyoming and North Dakota. Rhode Island, in fifth place, was the first to cross that mark, with 10,009. Within the 10-state group, Alaska accounted for about 9.3% of combined births.

The gap with California is far wider. California recorded about 45 times as many births as Alaska in 2024, the third-widest gap on the list. California's multiple falls from 66.0 times Wyoming's count to 45.0 times Alaska's, then to 41.7 times North Dakota's. At its average pace of roughly 1,099 births a day, California matched Alaska's full-year total in a little over eight days.

The Anchorage Daily News reports that Alaska's excess of births over deaths has offset the population the state lost as more residents moved away than arrived. State demographers predict long-term population decline if the gap between births and deaths keeps narrowing and net outmigration continues.

The pattern is not uniform across the state. In the Yukon-Kuskokwim region of Western Alaska, birth rates remain comparatively high. Rates of people moving away are high there as well. The region's total population has stayed level over the last 10 years, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

Illustration: Quartz

North Dakota recorded 9,634 births in 2024, the fourth-lowest total of any state. California recorded about 41.7 times as many babies that year, according to final NCHS natality data analyzed by Birth Injury Lawyer.

Those 9,634 newborns made up 0.27% of all U.S. births in 2024. That works out to roughly 27 of every 10,000 babies born in the country that year.

Spread across the 366 days of 2024, North Dakota averaged about 26 births a day. California averaged close to 1,100 a day. At that pace, California matched North Dakota's full-year total in under nine days.

In the ranking, North Dakota sits between Alaska and Rhode Island. Alaska, in third place, recorded 691 fewer births. Rhode Island, in fifth, recorded 375 more. That leaves North Dakota closer to fifth place than to third. It is the last state on the list with fewer than 10,000 births.

The gap to the bottom of the list is wider. Vermont, which had the fewest births of any state, recorded 4,611 fewer babies than North Dakota. North Dakota's total was nearly twice Vermont's.

New Hampshire, in 10th place, recorded 2,136 more births than North Dakota. That gap is less than half the distance between North Dakota and Vermont. By raw count, North Dakota sits nearer the 10th-place state than the state with the fewest births.

North Dakota's 0.27% share of U.S. births sat 0.02 percentage point above Alaska's 0.25%. It sat 0.01 percentage point below Rhode Island's 0.28%. Measured against the whole country, the three neighbors differ only slightly.

Among the 10 states with the lowest birth counts, North Dakota contributed close to one in 10 of the group's combined births. Vermont, Wyoming, Alaska and North Dakota, the four states with the fewest births, recorded 29,689 births combined. That is less than a third of the group's total. The other six states, ranked fifth through 10th, accounted for the rest.

Illustration: Quartz

Rhode Island recorded 10,009 births in 2024, the fifth-smallest total of any state in final NCHS natality data. That count made up 0.28% of all U.S. births.

Rhode Island is the first state on this list to pass 10,000 births. Vermont, Wyoming, Alaska and North Dakota all finished below that mark. The five states ranked after Rhode Island each recorded more than 10,000.

That round number splits the group unevenly. Four states sit under it and six sit above it, with Rhode Island clearing the line by nine births.

Its neighbors in the table sit close by. North Dakota, in fourth place, recorded 9,634 births, or 375 fewer than Rhode Island. Delaware, in sixth place, recorded 10,550 births. That is 541 more than Rhode Island. Rhode Island's total is closer to North Dakota's than to Delaware's.

The national shares follow the same pattern. North Dakota accounted for 0.27% of U.S. births and Delaware for 0.29%. Rhode Island's share falls between them. Each of the three sits one-hundredth of a percentage point from the next.

California recorded about 40.2 times as many births as Rhode Island in 2024, according to the Birth Injury Lawyer study. Spread across the 366 days of 2024, Rhode Island's total works out to about 27 births a day.

Rhode Island recorded nearly twice as many births as Vermont, the state with the fewest. Its 0.28% share was also double Vermont's 0.14%.

The gap on the other side of Rhode Island is narrower. New Hampshire, in 10th place, recorded 1,761 more births than Rhode Island. That spread covers the five states ranked after it. The climb from Vermont to Rhode Island spans only four places but a much wider range of births.

Illustration: Quartz

Delaware recorded 10,550 births in 2024, the sixth-lowest total of any state in final NCHS natality data. Those newborns made up 0.29% of all babies born in the U.S. that year.

California recorded about 38.1 times as many births as Delaware in 2024, according to the Birth Injury Lawyer study.

Spread across the 366 days of 2024, Delaware's total works out to roughly 29 births a day.

Delaware sits in the middle of the 10-state ranking. Rhode Island, ranked fifth, recorded 10,009 births. That is 541 fewer than Delaware. Montana, ranked seventh, recorded 11,331 births, or 781 more than Delaware.

The distance to the bottom of the list is wider. Delaware's count is a little more than twice the total recorded by Vermont, which had the fewest births of any state.

Within the group itself, Delaware accounted for about 11% of the births the 10 states recorded combined.

Illustration: Quartz

Montana recorded 11,331 births in 2024, according to final NCHS natality data analyzed by Birth Injury Lawyer. California logged about 35.5 times as many babies that year. That count placed Montana seventh among the 10 states with the smallest birth totals.

Montana's births made up 0.31% of all babies born in the U.S. in 2024. No other state in the group posted that exact share. Delaware, ranked sixth with fewer births, accounted for 0.29%. South Dakota, ranked eighth with more births, accounted for 0.32%. Montana is the first state in the ranking whose share rises above 0.3%. Its share is also more than double Vermont's 0.14%.

The California comparison shifts only slightly around Montana. California recorded about 38.1 times as many births as Delaware and about 35.1 times as many as South Dakota. Montana's multiple sits 0.4 above South Dakota's and 2.6 below Delaware's. A lower multiple means a larger birth count. The figure falls steadily as the list moves from first place to 10th.

Montana recorded 781 more births than Delaware. It recorded just 120 fewer than South Dakota. That 120-birth difference is the smallest gap between any two neighboring states on the list. The next-smallest gap, 150 births, separates South Dakota from Maine.

Montana finished 439 births short of New Hampshire, the 10th state on the list. That means positions seven through 10 fall within 439 births of one another. The order at that end of the list rests on margins of a few hundred babies. Montana recorded 1,322 more births than Rhode Island, the first state on the list to top 10,000 births.

Montana and the six states that recorded fewer births produced 61,579 births combined. That is about 63.9% of the group's total.

At California's 2024 pace, Montana's full year of births equals roughly 10 days of California deliveries. Montana also accounted for about 11.8% of the combined births recorded by the 10 states.

Illustration: Quartz

South Dakota recorded 11,451 births in 2024, the eighth-smallest total of any state, according to a Birth Injury Lawyer analysis of final National Center for Health Statistics natality data.

That count equaled 0.32% of all U.S. births that year. Within the group of 10 states on the list, South Dakota contributed about 12% of the combined total.

The state sits in a crowded part of the table. Montana, ranked seventh, recorded 11,331 births, or 120 fewer than South Dakota. Maine, ranked ninth, recorded 11,601 births, or 150 more. Fewer than 450 births separate Montana's total from New Hampshire's in 10th place.

With margins that narrow, the order among these four states comes down to a few hundred babies. A count-based ranking records those differences exactly. It does not show whether they reflect population size, age structure or anything else. The source offers no explanation for South Dakota's position.

The spacing changes toward the bottom of the list. North Dakota, ranked fourth, recorded 9,634 births. That is 1,817 fewer than South Dakota. Vermont, with the lowest count at 5,023, recorded less than half of South Dakota's total.

Measured against California, South Dakota lands close to its neighbors. California recorded about 35.1 times as many births as South Dakota in 2024, according to the study. That multiple falls between Montana's 35.5 and Maine's 34.7.

Spread across the 366 days of 2024, South Dakota's total works out to about 31 births a day.

Illustration: Quartz

Maine recorded 11,601 births in 2024, the ninth-lowest total of any state, according to the Birth Injury Lawyer study of final NCHS natality data. Those newborns made up 0.32% of all babies born in the U.S. that year.

Maine's count sits in a tight band at the high end of the list. It finished 150 births above South Dakota, which ranked eighth with 11,451. It came in 169 births below New Hampshire, which ranked 10th with 11,770.

The gap widens one place further down. Montana placed seventh with 11,331 births, which left it 270 births behind Maine.

California recorded about 34.7 times as many births as Maine in 2024. At California's pace that year, Maine's full-year total equals roughly 10 and a half days of California births.

Maine's total is more than twice Vermont's, the smallest count among the 10 states. On its own, Maine accounts for about 12% of the births recorded across the whole group.