Birth-death ratio took ‘hit’ in La.

• By STEVEN WARD
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Mar 29, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

People of child-bearing age were leaving Louisiana before the hurricanes of 2005, but the storms worsened the trend, leading to a more intense drop in births in metropolitan areas of the state, a demographer said Thursday.

Elliott Stonecipher, of Shreveport, said his study of U.S. Census Bureau figures released Thursday shows there was a definite “hit” in the ratio of births to deaths since the storms.

According to 2007 census estimates, Lafayette showed the biggest birth-to-death ratio drop.

The Lafayette metropolitan area includes Lafayette and St. Martin parishes.

Lafayette’s rate fell to 1.86 births for every death from July 1, 2006, to July 1 2007, compared to 2.38 births for every death between 2000 and July 1, 2007,  Stonecipher said.

  The Census numbers Stonecipher used are drawn from Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas, known as a Core Based Statistical Areas, or CBSA.

Specifically, Stonecipher looked at the seven Louisiana metropolitan CBSAs — Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, New Orleans and Shreveport.

CBSAs are based on urban areas with populations of 50,000 or more, while micropolitian statistical areas are based on urban clusters of between 10,000 and 50,000. That means that not all parishes would be included in Stonecipher’s analysis if they did not meet a certain population  threshold.

The New Orleans ratio was a static 1 to 1 with 1.26 births for every death in 2007 compared to 1.42 births for every death between 2000 and July 1, 2007, Stonecipher said.

The New Orleans metropolitan area includes Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John and St. Tammany parishes.

The Baton Rouge metropolitan area dropped to 1.7 births for every death as of July 1, 2007 from 1.78 from the previous seven-year period, Stonecipher said.

The Baton Rouge metropolitan area includes East and West Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston, East and West Feliciana, Iberville, Pointe Coupee and St. Helena parishes.

Other birth-to-death ratios for metropolitan areas measured and compared during the same time period include:

• Monroe — 1.56,  down from 1.59 births.
• Lake Charles — 1.48, down from 1.52  births.
• Shreveport — 1.50, up from 1.49 births.
• Alexandria — 1.39, up from 1.38 births.