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Birth rate in Baja California plummets

TOLUCA, MEXICO - MAY 25, 2020: A nurse wears face mask while holds a iPad to patient take a video call with her relatives through of a digital platform after she has given birth to a healthy baby amid Coronavirus pandemic at Adolfo Lopez Mateos Hospital. On May 25, 2020 In Toluca, Mexico- PHOTOGRAPH BY Ricardo Castelan Cruz / Eyepix G/ Barcroft Studios / Future Publishing (Photo credit should read Ricardo Castelan Cruz / Eyepix Group/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

TIJUANA (Border Report) — The State of Baja California now finds itself in the third tier within Mexican states when it comes to the nation’s birth rate, according to Mexico’s National Institute of Geography and Statistics.

Baja California, which lies directly south of the border from California, is averaging 57.9 births per 1,000 women in 2019. It ranks 21st out of 31 states.

The lower birth rate is in spite of the fact that in cities like Tijuana, the population has grown by about 400,000 residents in the last 10 years.

The top states for childbirth in Mexico are Chiapas, Guerrero and Zacatecas.

In all of Mexico, almost 1.9 million babies were born in a clinic or hospital, a 3 percent increase from 2018. The month of September had the most births while February had the least.

Overall, the birth rate in Mexico has been declining in recent years, according to Macro Trends:

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