Birth Data
In the United States, State laws require birth certificates to be completed for all births, and Federal law mandates national collection and publication of births and other vital statistics data. The National Vital Statistics System, the Federal compilation of this data, is the result of the cooperation between the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the States to provide access to statistical information from birth certificates.
Standard forms for the collection of the data and model procedures for the uniform registration of the events are developed and recommended for State use through cooperative activities of the States and NCHS. Material is available to assist persons in completing the death certificate. NCHS shares the costs incurred by the States in providing vital statistics data for national use.
Data for United States in 2015
- Number of births: 3,978,497
- Birth rate: 12.4 per 1,000 population
- Fertility rate: 62.5 births per 1000 women aged 15-44 years
- Percent born low birthweight: 8.1%
- Percent unmarried: 40.3%
Publications
- Educational Attainment of Mothers Aged 25 and Over: United States, 2017 (02/21/2019)
- Total Fertility Rates by State and Race and Hispanic Origin: United States, 2017 Cdc-pdf[PDF – 922 KB] (01/10/2019)
- Births: Final Data for 2017 Cdc-pdf[PDF – 985 KB] (11/7/2018)
- Trends in Fertility and Mother’s Age at First Birth Among Rural and Metropolitan Counties: United States, 2007–2017 (10/17/2018
- Births in the United States, 2017 (08/21/2018)
- Describing the Increase in Preterm Births in the United States, 2014–2016 (06/13/2018)
- Timing and Adequacy of Prenatal Care in the United States, 2016 Cdc-pdf[PDF – 359 KB] (05/29/2018)
- Declines in Births to Females Aged 10–14 in the United States, 2000–2016 (04/25/2018)
- Asian-American Mothers: Demographic Characteristics by Maternal Place of Birth and Asian Subgroup, 2016 Cdc-pdf[PDF – 480 KB] (04/18/2018)
- Singleton Low Birthweight Rates, by Race and Hispanic Origin: United States, 2006–2016 (03/21/2018)
- Cigarette Smoking During Pregnancy: United States, 2016 (02/28/2018)
- Births: Final Data for 2016 Cdc-pdf[PDF – 1 MB] (01/31/2018)
- Maternal Characteristics of Prenatal WIC Receipt in the United States, 2016 (01/10/2018)
- Births in the United States, 2016 (9/27/2017)
Public Use Data
- 2017 Birth Data Files (8/21/2018)