Delaware

Delaware is the one of the smallest and most densely populated states in the United States. It ranks 49th in area and 45th in population, but sixth in population density. The population is predominantly white (76 percent in 2005) with the largest minority group (21.5 percent) being African American. 23.8 percent of the population is aged 18 or younger, placing Delaware 31st in the United States. In 2006, 11,988 children were born in Delaware, for a birth rate of 14.0 per 1,000 population and a fertility rate of 67.3 per 1,000 women aged 15–44. Total fertility rate (an estimate of the number of children born to each woman in her lifetime) in 2003 was 2.0, the same for the United States as a whole.

Overall, Delaware is a prosperous state, although there are pockets of poverty: 10.5 percent of people in Delaware lived below the U.S. poverty level in 2007, ranking 39th of all states. Median household income in Delaware was $54,610 in 2007, ranking 15th among the states, and per capita income was $40,608, ranking 12th. Educational levels are typical of the United States: 26.1 percent of Delaware residents aged 25 and over held at least a bachelor's degree in 2007, ranking the state 20th. Delaware has 250 doctors per 100,000 resident population, ranking 24th in the United States. However the state's general prosperity and reasonable supply of doctors does not translate to uniformly excellent health care: the infant mortality rate was 9.0 per 1,000 live births, ranking 5th in the United States; only Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina had higher rates. In such an industrialized country, this may indicate inequality of access to health care and/or a low priority placed on maternal and child health.

In 2006, about 5,200 marriages were conducted in Delaware, for a rate of 6.0 per 1,000 residents, slightly below the U.S. average of 7.5 per 1,000. In the same year, approximately 3,800 divorces were finalized for a rate of 4.5 per 1,000, well above the U.S. average of 3.6 per 1,000. In 2002, 82.2 percent of women in Delaware reported using contraception. In 2005, 5,150 abortions were performed in Delaware, for a rate of 28.8 per 1,000 women aged 1544, substantially higher than the U.S. rate of 19.4.

Among the distinguished mothers from Delaware are the abolitionist Mary Ann Shadd (1823–1893), the second African American woman to earn a law degree; the actress and political activist Herta Ware (1917–2005), whose daughter Ellen Geer is also an actress; and Ruth Ann Minner, governor of Delaware from 2001 to 2009, which makes her the longest-serving female governor in U.S. history.