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1908 -- 86% of immigrant births were attended by midwives.

1910 -- At least 50% of all births were attended by midwives.

1918 -- 87.9% of all Negro births were attended by midwives.

1930 -- Only 15% of all births in the United States were attended by midwives.

One the eve of WWII, more than 1/2 of all babies were born in hospitals. Ten years later, in the early 1950s fully 90% of American women went to the hospital to give birth.

Early 1970s -- over 99% of all births took place in hospitals and were attended by physicians. The development and widespread adoption of antibiotics, sulfonamide, and blood and blood substitutes capable of combating infection and hemorrhaging, two of the leading causes of maternal deaths, were probably most responsible for this decline.

During the decade of the 1970s, midwifery began to experience a comeback. While only 0.9% of all births were attended by midwives in 1975, this figure had risen to 3.4% by 1988.