Birth weight

Birth weight is the body weight of a baby at its birth. The average birth weight in babies of European heritage is lb, though the range of normal is between lb. On average, babies of south Asian and Chinese heritage weigh about lb. The birth weight of a baby is notable because very low birth weight babies are 100 times more likely to die compared to normal birth weight babies. As far as low birth weights prevalence rates changing over time, there has been a slight decrease from 7.9% (1970) to 6.8% (1980), then a slight increase to 8.3% (2006), to current levels of 8.2% (2016). The prevalence of low birth weight has trended slightly upward from 2012 to present day.