Centers for Disease Control and Prevention


About N C H S graphic and link
Información en Español
Fastats A-Z provides health statistics and links to additional sources of information
N C H S help graphic and link
Coming Events graphic and link
Surveys and Data Collection Systems graphic and link
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey graphic and link
National Health Care Survey graphic and link
National Health Interview Survey graphic and link
National Immunization Survey graphic and link
Longitudinal Studies of Aging (LSOAs)
National Survey of Family Growth graphic and link
State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey graphic and link
National Vital Statistics System graphic and link
Initiatives graphic and link
Aging Activities graphic and link
Disease Classification graphic and link
Healthy People graphic and link
Injury graphic and link
Research and Development graphic and link
Research Data Center
NCHS Press Room
News Releases graphic and link
Publications and Information Products graphic and link
Statistical Export and Tabulation System
Listserv graphic and link
Graphic and link to FEDSTATS and other sites
Download graphic
Adobe Acrobat Reader graphic and link
PowerPoint Viewer 2003 graphic and link
National Center for Health Statistics 3311 Toledo Road Hyattsville, Maryland 20782
Toll Free Data Inquiries 1-800-232-4636


CDC Home Search Health Topics A-Z
nchshd.jpg (16250 bytes)


N V S S National Vital Statistics System logoNational Vital Statistics System
NCHS Home | NVSS Home | Birth Data | Mortality Data
Fetal Death Data | Marriages and Divorces
Linked Births/Infant Deaths | NSFG | NMFS | NMIHS
National Death Index | 2003 Revisions of the US Vital Certificates
CDC/NCHS Privacy Policy Notice | Accessibility | Search NCHS
| Contact us

The National Vital Statistics System is the oldest and most successful example of inter-governmental data sharing in Public Health and the shared relationships, standards, and procedures form the mechanism by which NCHS collects and disseminates the Nation's official vital statistics. These data are provided through contracts between NCHS and vital registration systems operated in the various jurisdictions legally responsible for the registration of vital events--births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and fetal deaths. Vital Statistics data are also available on line. In the United States, legal authority for the registration of these events resides individually with the 50 States, 2 cities (Washington, DC, and New York City), and 5 territories (Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). These jurisdictions are responsible for maintaining registries of vital events and for issuing copies of birth, marriage, divorce, and death certificates.

Standard forms for the collection of the data and model procedures for the uniform registration of the events are developed and recommended for nationwide use through cooperative activities of the jurisdictions and NCHS. The process for implementing the latest revisions of the birth and death certificates and the fetal death report is now underway. The final 2003 revised certificates and accompanying technical information are available. NCHS has procedures for collection, coding, editing, and transmitting multiple race and Hispanic original data. NCHS also produces training and instructional material, as well as a automated mortality medical data system for coding and classifying cause-of-death information from death certificates.

CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics is working with State partners represented by the National Association of Public Health Statistics and Information Systems and the Social Security Administration to fundamentally re-engineer the processes through which vital statistics are produced in the U.S., including implementation of the 2003 revised certificates. The primary objective is to improve the timeliness, quality, and sustainability of the decentralized vital statistics system, along with collection of the revised and new content of the 2003 certificates, by adopting technologically sophisticated yet cost-effective model IT systems based on nationally developed standards and models. Information on the re-engineering activities and technical documents are available at the NAPHSIS web site, as well as at the NCHS certificate revision web site.

Additional programs related to the National Vital Statistics System include the Linked Birth and Infant Death Data Set, the National Survey of Family Growth, the Matched Multiple Birth Data Set, National Death Index, National Maternal and Infant Health Survey, and the National Mortality Followback Survey.

Through the National Vital Statistics System, data on vital events are now published in electronic form: Vital Statistics of the United States, National Vital Statistics Reports (formerly the Monthly Vital Statistics Report), and other selected reports. The special report U.S. Vital Statistics System provides an overview and history of the data system. For details, see related pages on specific vital events or related programs. Copies of birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates may be obtained directly from the States; see Where to Write for Vital Records.

NCHS Data Release Program and Access Policy for Micro-Data and Compressed Vital Statistics Files

Populations Used to Calculate Vital Rates

To permit the calculation of race-specific vital rates for 2000 and beyond and for revised vital rates for 1991-99 (using intercensal population estimates), the National Center for Health Statistics, in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute and the Census Bureau, has released bridged-race estimates of the U.S. resident population. NCHS has also released U.S. Intercensal Population Estimates by Specified Hispanic Origin Groups for the time period July 1, 1991 - July 1, 1999 for use in calculating vital rates.

U.S. Public Use ICD-9/ICD-10 Comparability File

Data pertaining to causes of death are classified and coded according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). This system is revised about every 10 years. The United States implemented the latest (tenth) revision of the ICD (ICD-10) starting with mortality data for 1999. Implementing a new revision of this system helps the national mortality system stay abreast of advances in medical science and terminology. This implementation, however, may introduce changes to mortality trend data for certain causes of death. This may be due to changes in the classification of medical conditions or in the rules that determine selection of the underlying cause of death. In order to estimate the effect of these changes on cause-specific mortality data, NCHS has performed a study of the comparability (also called a bridge-coding study) between ICD-9 and ICD-10, based on the 1996 public use multiple cause-of-death data file. This study produced a double-coded file, using both the ICD-9 and ICD-10 classification systems (ICD-9/ICD-10 Comparability File), which is now available as a public-use file.

 

NCHS Home | NVSS Home  | Birth Data | Mortality Data
Fetal Death Data | Marriages and Divorces
Linked Births/Infant Deaths | NSFG | NMFS | NMIHS
National Death Index | 2003 Revisions of the US Vital Certificates
CDC/NCHS Privacy Policy Notice | Accessibility | Search NCHS
Contact us


CDC Home | Search | Health Topics A-Z

This page last reviewed November 26, 2008

H H S Health and Human Services logo and link
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Health Statistics
Hyattsville, MD
20782

1-800-232-4636