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About Vital Statistics
Vital statistics are data on "vital events," namely births, deaths, and civil activities like marriages and divorces.
Therefore, there are overlapping areas belonging both to the vital statistics and other topical sections of this guide.
For example, statistics on cancer mortality (the number of people who die of a certain disease compared with the total number of people) are available from the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion as well as from the National Vital Statistics Report.
Key Vital Statistics
National Vital Statistics System
The Division of Vital Statistics is part of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). This website is the starting point for information on:
- Birth data
- Mortality data
- Fetal death data
- Linked birth and death data
- Marriages and divorces
- National Maternal and Infant Health Survey
- National Mortality Followback Survey
Where to Find Vital Statistics
- American’s Families and Living ArrangementsLook here for information on marriages.
- Atlas of United States Mortality“Released to the public on April 14, 1997, this atlas is the first to show all leading causes of death by race and sex for small U.S. geographic areas referred to as Health Service Areas (HSA's). The 18 causes of death included in this atlas account for 83 percent of all deaths in the United States during 1988-92. In addition to maps with age-adjusted death rates for each HSA, the atlas includes maps that compare each HSA rate to the national rate, smoothed maps for each cause that show the broad geographic patterns at selected ages, and a chart with regional rates for each cause of death.”
- Fertility of American WomenReports from the U.S. Census Current Population Survey.
- Morbidity and Mortality Weekly ReportCurrent source of information on death and death rates. Includes surveillance summaries, such as the reoccurring reports on abortion that are particularly valuable for their comprehensive treatment of the subject. These reports are titles “Abortion Surveillance --- United States, [year]”.