One more birth means one more person. Therefore, that births would be one of the primary drivers of U.S. population growth seems to be a deceptively simple conclusion. However, why, how, and where births contribute to the U.S. population growth varies from state to state.

There were almost 4 million births between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates. The map below shows how many births there were in each state relative to their total population. The top five states were: Utah, Alaska, North Dakota, Texas and South Dakota. While those states account for only 10 percent of the nation’s population, 12 percent of the births occurred there.