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NATIONAL VITAL STATISTICS SYSTEM - NATALITY
Description:
The Natality public-use data file includes all births occurring within the United States. Births occurring to U.S. citizens outside the United States are not included. 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. Data are obtained from certificates filed for births occurring in each State. Data were obtained from a 50-percent sample of certificates during 1968-71. Starting in 1972 all records were included for States that participated in the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program (VSCP). The number of States participating in the VSCP increased from 6 in 1972 to 46 in 1984; beginning in 1985, all States and the District of Columbia participated.
URLs/Downloads:
TECHAP00.PDF (PDF, NA pp, 1 KB, about PDF)NATDESC.HTM
BIRTHS.HTM
NATALITY.HTM
VITAL_CERTS_REV.HTM