Birth Expectations of Women in the United States, 1973-88

National data on women's birth expectations have been collected in the United States since the 1950's. Since its inception in 1973, the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) has included questions on the number of births women expect to have in the future. The number of children already born to a woman, plus the additional births she expects, provide an estimate of the total number of births she expects to have in her lifetime. Birth expectation provides an estimate of future family size, and is a leading indicator of future trends in the birth rate.

A new report analyzing trends in birth expectations of U.S. women was released from the National Center for Health Statistics. This report, Birth Expectations of Women in the United States, 1973-88, examines trends by age, race, parity, and marital status.

Data Highlights:

In 1988 women aged 15-44 years expected an average of 2.22 births in their lifetime, 1.22 of which were children already born, and 1.00 of which was expected in the future, a 7 percent decline from 1988.

The two-child family was the most popular expected family size for women aged 15-44 years in both 1982 and 1988.

Women expecting to remain childless increased 7 to 9 percent, and women expecting just one child increased from 12 to 14 percent during the period from 1982 to 1988.

The findings in this report are based on data from the NSFG, a national sample of women 15-44 years of age. Women were interviewed on a number of topics related to childbearing, past and expected future births, fecundity and infertility, contraceptive use, and use of health care related to childbearing.

This page last reviewed January 11, 2007