Percentage of Premature Babies
Updated February 23, 2017 | Factmonster Staff 
The Question:
What percentage of live births yearly in the United States are premature?
The Answer:
Of the 4.2 million babies born in the United States in 2008, 12.3% were premature. (A baby born at 37 weeks is considered premature. Normal gestation is 39 weeks.)
Blacks have a higher rate of premature births than the general population; the premature-birth rate for non-Hispanic Blacks in 2008 was 17.5% of all births.
For more information, check out more of our birth statistics and other U.S. Statistics.
-The Fact Monster
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