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NATIONAL VITAL STATISTICS SYSTEM - MORTALITY DATA
Description:
In the United States, State laws require death certificates to be completed for all deaths, and Federal law mandates national collection and publication of deaths 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 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 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. For further information, refer to U.S. Vital Statistics System Major Activities and Developments: 1950-95. Software is available to automate coding of medical information on the death certificate, following World Health Organization rules specified in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The vital statistics general mortality data are a fundamental source of demographic, geographic, and cause-of-death information. This is one of the few sources of comparable health-related data for small geographic areas and a long time period in the United States. The data are also used to present the characteristics of those dying in the United States, to determine life expectancy, and to compare mortality trends with other countries. Preliminary and final annual data are available.
