After a steady 15-year decline, the percentage of U.S. babies not born in a hospital rose 5% in 2005 and held steady in 2006, according to a March 3 analysis in National Vital Statistic Reports, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2004, out-of-hospital births represented 0.87% of total U.S. births, rising to 0.9% in 2005 and staying at that level in 2006. That year, 38,568 births occurred out of a hospital, including 24,970 at home and 10,781 in a free-standing birth center. The proportion of out-of-hospital births in 2005-2006 varied among states, from more than 2% in Vermont and Montana to 0.2% in Louisiana and Nebraska, according to the report, which suggests that such factors as weather, proximity to a hospital and attitudes toward home birth among women and local doctors might play a role in state-by-state differences.