Welcome, New Year’s baby. We don’t yet know the precise time of your birth or where along the 440-mile breadth of Tennessee you made your debut, but we already know a few things about your place in the world:
You’re the newest addition to a growing population of about 7.1 million Tennesseans and, if the last few years are a good predictor, one of about 80,000 babies expected in the Volunteer State in 2024.
Census data puts your baby cohort at approximately 75% white, 21% Black, 11% Latino, 3% Asian and less than 1% American Indian.
Tennessee Department of Health data indicates that approximately 1 in 9 of these babies will arrive preterm, increasing the risk of complications or even death.
(Tennessee’s already high infant death rate increased by 7% between 2021 and 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Black babies, historically, have had nearly double the odds of dying before their first birthday in Tennessee)