Births, Marriages, Divorces, and Deaths:

Provisional Data for October 1999

Technical notes

Effective with Volume 47, Number 1, the Monthly Vital Statistics Report

(MVSR) has been renamed the National Vital Statistics Reports (NVSR). The

monthly issue includes Technical notes and two tables that show provisional

vital statistics for the United States. Tables previously published in the MVSR

that show provisional data by State are now available on the NCHS home page on

the Internet at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/datawh/statab/unpubd/nvstab48.htm

Data shown here are provisional and include only events occurring within

the United States (50 States and the District of Columbia). Mortality data exclude

fetal deaths. Delay in the receipt of certificates in a registration office may result

in a low figure for a given month followed by a high figure for the month(s) in

which the delayed records were received. Totals for births, deaths, and infant

deaths are based on the State estimates by State of residence and, therefore,

in effect, exclude events to nonresidents of the United States. Events to

nonresidents of the United States are included in all marriage and divorce

figures. The effect of excluding events to nonresidents from the U.S. totals is

small. Divorce figures include reported annulments.

Until 1998 provisional totals for births, marriages, and divorces for the

entire United States included corrections for observed differences between

provisional and final figures. These corrections served to compensate for delays

in reporting. Beginning with data for January 1998, these monthly corrections

for births, marriages, and divorces have been dropped. Further information on

these changes has been provided in the NVSR’s presenting provisional data

for January, February, and March 1999 (Volume 48, Numbers 1, 2, and 4,

respectively; these reports are available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/

pubs/pubd/nvsr/nvsr.htm).

Moreover, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is ceasing to

publish aggregated divorce counts and rates based on provisional data from

all 50 States, because it is no longer statistically feasible to supply estimates

of monthly divorce counts for four nonreporting States (California, Colorado,

Indiana, and Louisiana). Instead, NCHS is publishing only the 12-month divorce

rates shown in table 1, based solely on the combined counts and populations

for the 46 reporting States and the District of Columbia. Aggregated one-month

and cumulative divorce numbers and rates as well as the 12-month number

have been dropped because of their very limited usefulness when based on

less than the full complement of States. Monthly marriage and divorce counts

as reported by the States will continue to be provided on the NCHS Internet

home page cited previously.

The populations used for computing rates are furnished by the U.S.

Bureau of the Census. Monthly rates are based on populations estimated for

the specific month. Year-to-date rates are averages of monthly rates that have

been weighted by the number of days in the corresponding months. Rates for

12-month periods are the sum of events for the period per population estimated

at the midpoint of the period. Populations have been estimated by NCHS for

the 12-month divorce rates based on the 46 reporting States and the District

Table 1. Provisional Vital Statistics for the United States

[Rates for infant deaths are deaths under 1 year per 1,000 live births; fertility rates are live births per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years; all other rates are per 1,000 total population. Data are subject to

monthly reporting variation; see Technical notes]

Item

October January–October 12 months ending with October

Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate

1999 1998 1999 1998 1999 1998 1999 1998 1999 1998 1999 1998 1997

Live births ........ 337,000 356,000 14.5 15.5 3,299,000 3,312,000 14.5 14.7 3,931,000 3,940,000 14.4 14.6 14.5

Fertility rate . . . . . . ... ... 65.9 70.1 . . . . . . 65.8 66.5 . . . . . . 65.3 65.9 64.8

Deaths .......... 188,000 189,000 8.1 8.2 1,979,000 1,958,000 8.7 8.7 2,351,000 2,340,000 8.6 8.7 8.6

Infant deaths ..... 2,300 2,300 6.8 6.7 22,500 23,100 6.8 7.0 27,000 27,300 6.9 6.9 7.1

Natural increase ..... 149,000 167,000 6.4 7.3 1,320,000 1,354,000 5.8 6.0 1,580,000 1,600,000 5.8 5.9 5.9

Marriages ........ 230,000 209,000 9.9 9.1 1,960,000 1,897,000 8.8 8.6 2,318,000 2,214,000 8.5 8.2 9.1

Divorces1 . . . . . . . . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 4.1 4.2 4.3

Population base

(in millions) . . . . . . . ... ... 273.6 270.7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272.4 269.6 267.2

. . . Category not applicable.

- - - Data not available.

1

Divorce rates exclude data for California, Colorado, Indiana, and Louisiana. Populations for these rates also exclude these States.

NOTES: Figures include revisions received from the States. Twelve-month figures for the current year reflect revisions received for previous months, and figures for earlier years may differ from those previously published.

National Vital Statistics Reports

From the CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

National Center for Health Statistics

National Vital Statistics System

NVSS

Volume 48, Number 15 September 6, 2000

CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Center for Health Statistics
of Columbia. Because monthly infant mortality rates are based on relatively few

events, they are highly variable, and comparisons of monthly infant mortality

rates should be interpreted cautiously.

Table 2. Provisional number of live births, marriages, deaths, and infant deaths and rates, by month: United States, January 1998–October 1999

[Data are provisional and are subject to monthly reporting variation; see Technical notes]

Period

Live births Marriages Deaths Infant deaths

Number

Rate per 1,000

population

Rate per 1,000 women

aged 15–44 years

Unadjusted

Seasonally

adjusted1 Number

Rate per 1,000

population Number

Rate per 1,000

population Number

Rate per 1,000

live births

1998:

January ....... 308,000 13.5 60.8 64.0 135,000 6.2 225,000 9.8 2,400 7.4

February ...... 310,000 15.0 67.8 68.8 135,000 6.9 209,000 10.1 2,300 7.5

March ....... 332,000 14.5 65.4 66.0 155,000 7.2 219,000 9.6 2,400 7.3

April ........ 337,000 15.2 68.6 70.0 157,000 7.5 191,000 8.6 2,300 6.9

May . . . . . . . . 318,000 13.9 62.7 63.3 191,000 8.3 188,000 8.2 2,200 6.8

June ........ 326,000 14.7 66.4 65.2 229,000 10.3 184,000 8.3 2,300 7.1

July ........ 357,000 15.6 70.4 68.0 239,000 10.4 187,000 8.2 2,400 6.9

August ....... 337,000 14.7 66.4 63.3 226,000 9.8 191,000 8.3 2,300 6.7

September ..... 330,000 14.8 67.1 63.7 221,000 9.9 175,000 7.9 2,300 6.9

October ...... 356,000 15.5 70.1 70.7 209,000 9.1 189,000 8.2 2,300 6.7

November . . . . . 311,000 14.0 63.3 65.0 186,000 8.3 178,000 8.0 2,100 6.7

December ..... 321,000 13.9 62.8 64.2 172,000 7.5 194,000 8.4 2,400 7.2

1999:

January ....... 337,000 14.6 65.9 69.1 130,000 6.0 220,000 9.5 2,200 6.5

February ...... 304,000 14.6 65.8 67.1 141,000 7.2 207,000 10.0 2,200 7.3

March........ 330,000 14.3 64.5 65.8 159,000 7.3 227,000 9.8 2,300 6.9

April ........ 318,000 14.2 64.4 65.6 163,000 7.8 205,000 9.2 2,300 7.2

May. . . . . . . . . 323,000 13.9 63.1 63.3 205,000 8.8 192,000 8.3 2,200 6.7

June ........ 327,000 14.6 66.2 65.5 242,000 10.8 182,000 8.1 2,300 7.1

July ........ 335,000 14.4 65.5 62.8 219,000 9.5 190,000 8.2 2,300 6.7

August ....... 340,000 14.6 66.4 63.3 229,000 9.9 186,000 8.0 2,300 6.8

September ..... 350,000 15.6 70.7 67.2 242,000 10.8 182,000 8.1 2,200 6.5

October ....... 337,000 14.5 65.9 66.1 230,000 9.9 188,000 8.1 2,300 6.8

1

The method of seasonal adjustment, developed by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, is described in The X-11 Variant of the Census Method II Seasonal Adjustment Program, Technical Paper No. 15 (1967 revision).

NOTE: Figures include all revisions received from the States and, therefore, may differ from those previously published.

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2 National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 15, September 6, 2000