There's a reason land keeps disappearing in Utah County. Consider this: In 2005, 11,295 babies were born in Utah. In the same time, 1,716 people died, according to the Utah Department of Health's 2005 annual report. That's less than one-sixth of the number of births. Statewide, 51,301 babies were born and 13,120 people died, a difference of almost four to one.

A good chunk of those births are from Utah County as well. The three Intermountain Healthcare hospitals reported 8,554 births in 2005, and Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem had 1,639. Through the end of September, Timpanogos has reported 1,481 births, American Fork Hospital has 2,222, Orem Community Hospital reported 986 births and Utah Valley Regional Medical Center has had 3,411 births.

It's no secret that Utah has the highest birth rate and lowest death rate in the nation. The reasons typically fall to the Mormon culture; people start having children at a younger age and they have more children. Death rates are lower because of a generally healthier lifestyle.

But as the nation approaches the magic 300 million population mark, it's not all on Utah. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, similar trends are seen nationwide. Life expectancy was measured in 2002 at 77.4 years, the highest it has ever been.

The difference in birth rates is who is having babies. Birth rates have increased in almost every age group but especially in middle-aged women. In 2003, birth rates for women aged 40-44 years went up 5 percent from 2002; it has more than doubled since 1981. For women aged 30-34 and 35-39 birth rates increased 4 percent and 6 percent respectively, while the rates fell for teenagers and women in their early 20s and stayed about the same for women in their late 20s, according to the CDC.

"Women are delaying childbirth to later," said Dr. Donna Dizon-Townsend, a maternal fetal medicine physician at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.

That can potentially cause problems in childbirth; older mothers are more likely to have complications, as are their babies. Those complications include diabetes, hypertension and pre-eclampsia for the mothers and numerical chromosome abnormalities like Down syndrome for their babies.

But that still remains less of a problem in Utah County.

"I think we have a very healthy young population here," Dizon-Townsend said.

Hospital spokeswoman Janet Frank pointed out that medicine has played a large part both in the higher birth rates than in the past and the lower death rates. The medications, surgeries, tests and other operations that are available to humans today all contribute to improved health and longer life, thus adding to the 300 million milestone.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.