Between 1985 and 1996, the incidence of low birth weight babies in the US rose from 6.8% to 7.4%.
GDP, a figure certain to rise as Italy's awkward demographics of low birth rate and increasing longevity push the scheme even further out of financial balance.
And not just in America: in Germany, where the long years of low birth rates will reduce the size of the pool over the coming decade, Kienbaum, the country's leading pay consultancy, recently set up a special unit to comb academe for youthful high-fliers.
Because of very low birth rates among old-stock Germans, the proportion of foreign-born is highest among those younger than 20s.
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Mothers of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin had a high risk of having low birth-weight babies - their babies are on average 300g lighter than those of white mothers.
The study excluded twins and triplets as they are known to be at increased risk of premature birth and low birth weight.
Children conceived by in vitro fertilization and other technologies have higher rates of prematurity and low birth weights, conditions associated with behavioral and developmental problems.
For another, the number of people retiring from 1990 through the rest of the century will be held down by the low birth rates of the Depression and World War II years.
Forum data showed that the proportion of infants born with low birth weight was 8 percent in 1997, the highest figure in more than 20 years.
Meanwhile, the working population will have been thinned by the low birth rates of the past 15 years.
Like France and Italy, Germany suffers from a killer combination of an ageing population, low birth rates and generous pension provision.
It is also possible that low birth weight is indicative of harsh living conditions, such as poverty, which may make a child experiencing them more likely to be depressed.
But it is rising per student, as a low birth rate reduces the number of matriculations.
Even if it does not die, the chance of it giving birth to healthy offspring is low.
Women with both disease also had a higher risk of developing anaemia, miscarrying, having a low birth weight baby and delivering prematurely.
Many critics say this is too low for a country of 19m, where the birth rate has fallen below that needed to replace the existing population.
However, previous research has linked low birth weight to an increased risk of attention deficit disorder, as well as physical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
After independence from the British in 1947, India outlawed what was an age-old practice of untouchability of low-caste Hindus by those seen as superior by birth.
Since the 1970s the number of men and women marrying in their 20s and early 30s has fallen sharply, which is one of the main reasons the birth rate has fallen so low.
It has been suggested that the lack of mortgages in Italy has contributed to that country's low birth rate and the high average age at which Italians marry for the first time.
Mr Medvedev oversaw major social initiatives in the areas of agriculture, health, education and efforts to boost Russia's low birth rate.
But given the low birth rate over the past 30 years, the supply of young workers is not, in fact, endless.
All three of our children have been put outside twice a day from birth and in temperatures as low as -16C.
Women with preeclampsia are more likely to have complications such as low birthweight, premature birth or placental abruption, where the placenta separates from the wall of the uterus before birth, according to the March of Dimes.
Low-birth weight is linked to an increased risk death and disability, and a range of long-term health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and depression.
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