Baby Business Boom

Los Angeles County maternity wards are busier than those elsewhere. Between 1975 and 1985, the total of births annually in the county rose from 111,200 to 151,500, said Jack A. Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. “Literally we’ve had a mini-baby boom here in Los Angeles.”

The county’s population grew by 815,000 people from 1980 to July 1, 1986, and 64% of the gain was a so-called natural increase, an excess of births over deaths, rather than net immigration, Kyser said. For the state as a whole, natural increase made up just 46% of the population gain.