Here is a news item worth noting: America is having a baby boomlet.

The Associated Press took the annual birth figures released by the Centers for Disease Control&8217;s National Center for Health Statistics and looked at birth figures going back to 1909.

The 4.3 million babies born in 2006 represent the largest number of children born in a single year in 45 years. In other words, it was the highest figure since 1961, near the end of the well-known baby boom of the mid-20th century.

Now, it&8217;s not a full-blow baby boom, but it is a boomlet.

The rise in births in 2006 bucks the trend of other industrialized countries, which have seen low birth rates. That means America has a higher fertility rate than Canada, Japan, Australia and every country in continental Europe.

One reason for the baby boomlet is a growing number of Hispanics, which accounted for nearly one-quarter of U.S. births. But non-Hispanic white women and other racial and ethnic groups were having more babies, too, the figures show.

Is this boomlet good or bad? That&8217;s hard to say. Nan Marie Astone, associate professor of population, family and reproductive health at Johns Hopkins University, said this in the AP report:

&8220;Americans like children. We are the only people who respond to prosperity by saying, &8216;Let&8217;s have another kid.&8217;&8221;

Is it the start of a trend? It&8217;s too early to say, but it is good to know the maternity ward at Naeve Hospital underwent a nice-looking renovation last year.