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.
Key Birth Statistics
Data for United States in 2009
- Number of births: 4,130,665
- Birth rate: 13.5 per 1,000 population
- Fertility rate: 66.7 births per 1000 women aged 15-44 years
- Percent born low birthweight: 8.2%
- Percent unmarried: 41.0%
What's New
Publications
- Births: Preliminary Data for 2011 [PDF - 439 KB] (10/2012)
- Births: Final Data for 2010 [PDF - 1.3 MB] (8/2012)
- Estimated Pregnancy Rates and Rates of Pregnancy Outcomes for the United States, 1990–2008 [PDF - 463 KB] (6/2012)
- Recent Trends in Births and Fertility Rates Through December 2011 (5/2012)
- Birth Rates for U.S. Teenagers Reach Historic Lows for All Age and Ethnic Groups (4/2012)
- Recent Trends in Births and Fertility Rates Through June 2011[PDF - 81 KB] (2/2012)
Data Releases
Contact Us:
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Division of Vital Statistics
National Center for Health Statistics
3311 Toledo Rd
Hyattsville, MD 20782 - 1 (800) 232-4636
- cdcinfo@cdc.gov