Circumcision: 1979 and 2010

In 2010, 58.3 percent of male newborns discharged from hospitals had been circumcised during their hospitalization, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. This figure is down from 64.5 percent in 1979, but up from the low of 55.4 percent in 2007.

Circumcision rates have dropped sharply in the West since 1979. In that year, 63.9 percent of newborn males were circumcised. The figure fell to a low of 31.4 percent in 2003 and rebounded to 40.2 percent by 2010. Circumcision rates in the other regions have been more stable over the years. In 2010 the rates were 58.4 percent in the South, 66.3 percent in the Northeast, and 71.0 percent in the Midwest.