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According to popular belief the Maltese tend to have large babies, though no study in Malta has yet been made. The purpose of this study is intended to give an indication of the average Maltese birth weight. The sample was taken from the weights of 4103 live neonates of Maltese parents born during the years 1951 to 1959. The figures were collected from St. Luke's Hospital, Blue Sisters Hospital, David Bruce Military Hospital and The Malta Memorial District Nursing Association. Birth weight, birth order and sex were the factors considered. Data collected showed that the average weight of the first born male was 7 lb. 5.3 oz. and of the female 7 lb. 0.8 oz. There is a general tendency for the birth to increase with every additional birth. The second male and the third female tend to be heavier than the first few babies. The average weight of all recorded births is 7 lb. 9.8 oz. for boys and 7 lb. 4.7 oz. for girls. Another observation was that the average weight is slightly higher than that of English babies. ; peer-reviewed

Through numerous studies, scholars have come to view birth weight as having a lasting impact on educational outcomes. Normal birth weight is associated with greater educational attainment; however, much of the literature ignores the role of parental investment. Using data from the Fragile Families Child Well-Being Study, it was found that birth endowments alone do not produce varying levels of cognitive development, but these birth endowments do lead parents to make different choices for their children, choices that potentially exacerbate the educational divide. Children with normal birth weight receive more parental investment from birth to age 3 than children with abnormal birth weight. The increased parental investment from birth to age 3 directly increases cognitive scores and the role of parental investment on cognitive scores is amplified indirectly through birth weight. Parents may actually reinforce birth weight differences and, thus, it plays a role in the lingering cognitive gap exhibited later in life.

It seems that women whose first-born children are very heavy (9 lb and more) or very light (less than 5 1b) have more subsequent children than other women. This finding does not appear to arise from any of the possible artifacts discussed, and it could have some bearing on the present secular increase in the height and weight of the population.

In the United States black women have for decades been twice as likely as white women to give birth to babies of low birth weight who are at elevated risk for developmental disabilities. Does the black-white disparity in low birth weight contribute to the racial disparity in readiness?

The author summarizes the cognitive and behavioral problems that beset many low birth weight children and notes that not only are the problems greatest for the smallest babies, but black babies are two to three times as likely as whites to be very small. Nevertheless, the racial disparities in low birth weight cannot explain much of the aggregate gap in readiness because the most serious birth weight-related disabilities affect a very small share of children. The author estimates that low birth weight explains at most 3-4 percent of the racial gap in IQ scores.

The author applauds the post-1980 expansions of Medicaid for increasing rates of prenatal care use among poor pregnant women but stresses that standard prenatal medical care cannot improve aggregate birth outcomes substantially. Smoking cessation and nutrition are two prenatal interventions that show promise. Several early intervention programs have been shown to improve cognitive skills of low birth weight children. But even the most promising programs can narrow the readiness gap only a little because their benefits are greatest for heavier low birth weight children and because low birth weight explains only a small share of the gap.

The author stresses the importance of reducing rates of low birth weight generally and of extending to all children who need them the interventions that have improved cognitive outcomes among low birth weight children. But because black infants are more likely to be born at the lowest birth weights, preventing low birth weight—when researchers learn how to—is likely to be more effective than early intervention in narrowing birth weight-related racial gaps in school readiness.