advertisement

Births, deaths decline in Kane County in midst of population boom

New statistics indicate Kane County residents are having fewer children and local hospitals are seeing fewer births.

Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham released census numbers showing the number of births in the county has fallen every year for the past four years. The recent high water mark came in 2006 with 10,146 births at Kane County hospitals. That number includes non-county residents who gave birth in Kane County. The birth number began plunging right after that. The year 2007 saw 9.861 births. Then 2008 had 9,617 births followed by 8,888 births in 2009. The latest numbers recorded 8,787 births. That's a drop of 1,359 births in Kane County since 2006.

However, a related set of data seems to show Kane County isn't simply becoming a less desirable place to give birth.

Statistics from the Illinois Department of Public Health track births specifically to Kane County residents. Those numbers show a drop in births beginning in 2006. That year, births fell 0.6 percent from 2005 to a total of 8,549 births. In 2007, the number of birth dropped again to 8,420 births. Finally, in 2008, the most recent year numbers are available for, the birth tally dipped to 8,212.

The falling birth numbers are in contrast to county's overall population boom since 2000. According to 2010 census figures released this week, population topped 515,000 people, a growth of nearly 28 percent over 2000. Only Will County saw a bigger population increase over the same time frame in the area.

Kane County Health Department officials didn't offer any explanation for falling number of births Thursday. As census data about fertility and age of the local population comes out, more explanations may become apparent.

On a similar note, Cunningham also released numbers showing the number of deaths in Kane County has also seen a steady drop. The high mark for deaths came with 3,283 in 2005. That number has fallen every year since to a low of 2,877 in 2010.