DOI: 10.3886/icpsr36513.v1
title: Natality Detail File, 2008 [United States]
title: Version 1

description: This collection provides information on live births in the United States during the calendar year 2008. The natality data in these files are a component of the vital statistics collection effort maintained by the federal government. Birth data is limited to births occurring in the United States to United States residents and nonresidents. Births occurring to United States citizens outside of the United States are not included in this data collection. 
Dataset 1 contains data on births occurring within the United States, while Dataset 2 contains data on births occurring in the United States territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Variables describe the place of delivery, who was in attendance, and medical and health data such as method of delivery, prenatal care, tobacco and alcohol use during pregnancy, pregnancy history, medical risk factors, and infant health characteristics. 
Birth and fertility rates and other statistics related to this study can be found in the User Guide, under Detailed Technical Notes. 
Demographic variables include the child's sex, and month and year of birth, and the parents' ages, races, ethnicities, education levels, as well as the mother's marital status and residency status.
description: The report presents detailed data on numbers and characteristics of births in 2008, birth and fertility rates, maternal demographic and health characteristics, place and attendant at birth, and infant health characteristics within the United States.
description: The data are not weighted and no weight variables are present in the collection.
description: One-hundred percent of birth certificates in calendar year 2008.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: United States National File
DS2: United States Territories File
description: Live births in the United States and its territories during the calendar year 2008. Smallest Geographic Unit: territory
description: record abstractsBeginning with the 2005 data year, the micro-data natality file no longer includes geographic detail (e.g., state or county of birth). Information on the NCHS data release policy is available through the National Center for Health Statistics Web site. Tabulations of birth data by state and for counties with populations of 100,000 or more may be made using VitalStats. Procedures for requesting micro-data files with geographic detail are provided in the NCHS data release policy.The territories file, which includes data on births occurring in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, includes limited geographic detail. Information identifying individual territories and counties with populations of 100,000 or more by place of occurrence and residence are available in this file.Beginning with the 2007 data year, data items exclusive to the 1989 revision of the United States Certificate of Live Birth (i.e., maternal anemia, ultrasound, alcohol use) are no longer available in public files.This data file includes data based on both the 1989 Revision of the United States Standard Certificate of Live Birth (unrevised) and the 2003 revision of the United States Standard Certificate of Live Birth (revised). However, in general only data comparable between 1989 and 2003 revisions and data exclusive to the 2003 revision are included.For additional information on the Natality Detail File Series, please visit the National Center for Health Statistics Web site.