The rate of home births is on the rise, according to a new federal report released today.

The rate of home births declined in the 1990s but increased by 29 percent between 2004 and 2009 to the highest level since statistics were first compiled in 1989.

About 1 in every 90 pregnant white women now gives birth at home, three to five times higher than any other racial group, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Still, fewer than 1 percent of all U.S. babies are delivered at home, although the rates vary by geography. In Missouri, between 1 and 1.5 percent of births take place in the home. The home birth rate in Illinois is lower than 0.5 percent.

Babies born at home are less likely to be premature and have a low birth weight. Their mothers are more likely to be married and beyond their teenage years. Researchers believe those demographics are partly due to low-risk pregnant women being seen as more desirable clients for midwives and other home birth attendants.

Nine out of 10 home births are planned that way, and not a result of being unable to get to the hospital quickly enough, the study reported.

The reasons behind home births vary from a desire for a non-medical environment to a lack of transportation in rural areas. Cost is also a factor, since hospital births cost about three times more than home births, researchers said.