ATLANTA — The 2025 March of Dimes report card is out. It highlights key indicators of maternal and infant health in the United States. We get an F grade overall as a nation. In 2024, nearly 380,000 babies were born preterm.

That puts the US among the highest preterm birth rates in developed nations..

This year, Georgia is no different and also gets a failing grade.

Georgia ranks near the bottom at 45th in the nation with more than 14,900 babies born preterm in 2024. The preterm birth in the state is 11.8%.

When you look at individual counties, Fulton County got an F grade with a birth rate of 11.7 %, which is actually an improvement.

Gwinnet County gets a C-, but that’s an improvement as well, and DeKalb County gets a D-.

The report also finds in Georgia that black babies are 1.5 times more likely to be preterm than all other babies.

The infant mortality rate did not improve in the last decade. In 2023, 874 babies died before their first birthday.