In 2021, there were nearly 3,664,300 births in the United States.  The five-state Great Lakes region recorded 508,687 births in 2021, or about 13.9% of all births in the U.S. that year.  With 10.78 births per 1,000 population, the Great Lakes' regional birth rate was about 2.4% lower than the national average birth rate.  Only one state in the region, Indiana, registered a birth rate in 2021 that exceeded the U.S. national average of 11.04 births per 1,000 population.  Further examination of state-level data from the National Center for Health Statistics, a unit of the CDC, provides the following details about birth rates in the Great Lakes region:

Birth Rates in the Great Lakes Region

Area Name	Births	Population	Birth Rate*
Illinois	132,189	12,671,469	10.43
Indiana	79,946	6,805,985	11.75
Michigan	104,980	10,050,811	10.44
Ohio	129,791	11,780,017	11.02
Wisconsin	61,781	5,895,908	10.48
Region	508,687	47,204,190	10.78
U.S.	3,664,292	331,893,745	11.04

(*) number of births per 1,000 population

Report Period: 2021

Source: CDC Wonder. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. National Vital Statistics System, Natality on CDC WONDER Online Database. Data are from the Natality Records 2016-2021, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed on June 24, 2023