Introduction: Low birth weight (<2500 g) is one of the most important indicators to monitor progress in maternal, perinatal and child health. Materials and methods: Descriptive, analytical- correlational study with a quantitative approach. 1410 cases of newborns with low birth weight, reported in the Public Health Epidemiological Surveillance System (SIVIGILA) of the Department of Health Development, in the department of C�rdoba, Colombia, were analyzed. For the analysis, the R statistical package and frequency tables were used. Results: 35% of the mothers were between the ages of 17-21 and 55% of them reside in municipal capitals. 92% had various trades as their occupation, 82% belong to stratum 1, 2% integrate the migrant population and 66% have a secondary educational level. On the other hand, 47% of the children reached 37 weeks of gestation and 94% of them were classified as low birth weight. Discussion: These results agree with those of other authors who determined that socioeconomic factors influence low birth weight. Conclusions: The sociodemographic characteristics of the mother are determining factors for low birth weight.