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Marriage Data Public-use
Data Files

bullet graphicSurvey description
bullet graphicData file description
bullet graphicList of data file variables at a glance
 bullet graphicData file technical characteristics
bullet graphicGeographic coverage
 bullet graphicData availability
 bullet graphicOrdering information
bullet graphicDocumentation contents
 bullet graphicRelated reports
 bullet graphicContact

Survey description
Marriage data include all marriages occurring in States that meet reporting criteria for inclusion in the marriage-registration area, except for California unlicensed marriages. Marriages occurring outside the marriage-registration area are not included.

Data file description
Data are obtained from certificates of marriages occurring in each registration State. Records of each State in the marriage-registration area were sampled at one of five sampling rates used in processing 1968-95 data. Data are weighted, based on the sampling fraction of the reporting State.

The files include one record for each marriage in the sample. Marriage certificate numbers are not recorded. NCHS does not distribute certificates, files, or indexes with identifying information for marriages. Please refer to the section of the home page on "How to obtain birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates."

List of data file variables at a glance
Data year
Age of:
graphic indentBride
graphic indentGroom
Date of birth (month/year):
graphic indentBride
graphic indentGroom
Date of marriage (month/day)
Date last marriage ended1 (month/year)
(1970-88):
graphic indentBride
graphic indentGroom
Education:1(1970-88):
graphic indentBride
graphic indentGroom
Interval from last marriage to present marriage1 (1970-88):
graphic indentBride
graphic indentGroom
Number of this marriage:1
graphic indentBride
graphic indentGroom
Previous marital status:1
graphic indentBride
graphic indentGroom
Race:1
graphic indentBride (three categories)
graphic indentGroom (three categories)
State of birth1 (1969-88):
graphic indentBride
graphic indentGroom
State of residence:2
graphic indentBride
graphic indentGroom
Type of ceremony1 (1972-88)
Record weight
_______________________________________________________
1Applicable only for those States having information on the certificate.
2Beginning in 1970, the place of residence for brides or grooms who were nonresidents of the United States has been coded to the country of residence (eight categories). Formerly these persons were considered resident brides or grooms of the place of occurrence.

Note: Many of these items are not available beyond 1988.

Geographic coverage
Marriage data are classified by State of occurrence. From 1968 through 1970, the marriage-registration area included 39 States and the District of Columbia; two additional States were included in 1971; one additional State was included in 1979 and there was no further change until 1995 when one State dropped out of the registration area. Data are not classified for counties or cities.

Data availability
Marriage data are collected annually. Data are available for individual years from 1968-90. Data for 1991-95 are available on a single CD-ROM. Please refer to the notice "Change in the Reporting of Marriage and Divorce Statistics" for information about data after 1990.

Ordering information
Marriage data for individual years. 1968-1990, are  only available in ASCII format and can be purchased on CD-ROM through the National Technical Information Service (NTIS).  A single CD-ROM containing data from 1989-1995 in the SETS format  is available  from either NTIS or the Government Printing Office (GPO). As prices vary, please contact NTIS or GPO for current pricing.

Documentation contents
The necessary documentation, including content, technical information, a discussion of the sample design, sampling and estimating procedures, sampling errors, and control total tables , is included with each CD-ROM.

Related reports
Reports that relate to the data are available in Vital and Health Statistics, Series 21; Supplements to the Monthly Vital Statistics Report; and Vital Statistics of the United States, Volume III, Marriage and Divorce.

Contact
Reproductive Statistics Branch
Division of Vital Statistics
National Center for Health Statistics
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
3311 Toledo Road, Room 7318
Hyattsville, Maryland 20782-2003
(301) 458-4111

 


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This page last reviewed January 11, 2007

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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