The Georgia Department of Health maintains a thorough database on a number of topics, ranging from births to deaths and many things in between those two events. For example, the DPH can tell you the 50 most popular baby names for seven different racial subgroups. There’s also data on less happy subjects, like STDs.
Regardless, the DPH recently released its birth data for 2025, and it includes a county-by-county breakdown. Here’s a relatively wonky analysis for BALDWINCOUNTY:
• Birth rate – Baldwin County’s birth rate in 2025 was the lowest on record. The record, by the way, dates back to 1994. Baldwin’s birth rate in 2025 was placed at 35.8, which means “35.8 births for every 1,000 Baldwin County residents.” Basically, on the whole, women aren’t having as many children nowadays. Up until 2010, the birth rate in Baldwin County hovered in the mid-40s to the upper 40s. In 2005, for example, Baldwin’s birth rate was 46.8. Comparing that rate to the 35.8 rate in 2025, and you can say that Baldwin County’s birth rate decreased by 23.5 percent in 20 years.
This is the primary reason why student enrollment in the Baldwin County School District continues to decline. The Georgia Department of Education most recently placed the BCSD’s enrollment at 4,229. Compare this to 1994, which is as far back as the data goes, when there were 6,491 students in the local public school system.
• Age of the mother – One of the biggest success stories, both statewide and here in Baldwin County, has been the reduction in teen pregnancies. The Baldwin County birth rate for mothers under the age of 18 in 2025 was 3.6. A total of seven babies were born last year to Baldwin County mothers in this age range. Compare that to the first year on record, which was 1994, when the number was 49 babies born to mothers under the age of 18. This equates to an 85.7 percent drop.
Statewide, the rate was 19.1 in 1994 and 2.4 in 2025.
• Tobacco use – This is another success story.
In 1994, 16.8 percent of new moms in Baldwin County reported using tobacco products while pregnant. In 2025, the local percentage was 3.7.
Statewide, the “percent births reported tobacco use” percentage was all the way down to 1.3 percent in 2025.
• Births to unmarried mothers – This statistic has actually increased in Baldwin County in the last 30 years. The “percent births to unmarried mothers” in Baldwin County in 2025 was 59.5 percent. In other words, most babies were born to unmarried mothers.
Statewide, the average was 44.1 percent. For Baldwin County, the lowest year on record was 1997 (47.1 percent), while the highest was in 2014 (64 percent). The increase in Baldwin County has been driven primarily by unmarried mothers who are white. In 1994, that percentage was 24.4 percent. In 2025, it was 38.4 percent. Meanwhile, this percentage in the African-American demographic has remained relatively steady over the years. In 1994, the “percent births to unmarried mothers” in Baldwin County for African-Americans was 78.8 percent, while in 2025 it was 81.3 percent.