U.S. Births (Annual, Final)

## What this measures

The number of babies born in the United States in a calendar year, counted from birth certificates by the National Center for Health Statistics. Annual, final data, from 1995.

## Why it matters

Births set the size of every future school class, workforce and tax base, and they shape demand for housing, child care and health care years ahead. The count is the plainest read on family formation in the country.

## How to read it

Births per year. Compare it with the general fertility rate (demography.cdc.general_fertility_rate), which divides births by the number of women aged 15 to 44 and so removes the effect of population size. The age-group series (demography.cdc.births.mother_age.*) split this total, and they add up to it exactly.

## What it does not say

Births are counted where they occur in the United States, to residents and non-residents alike, by the year of birth. Final data only: the newest year appears about nine months after it ends. A mother's age is as recorded on the birth certificate; where it is missing NCHS imputes it. Counts say nothing about why births moved: the number of women in each age group changes with past births and migration, so a falling count can reflect fewer women of that age as much as different choices.

## Source

CDC WONDER Natality databases (wonder.cdc.gov): 1995-2002, 2003-2006 and 2007 to the latest final year, from the National Vital Statistics System birth certificates compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Read through the WONDER API, national figures only. Public domain; use does not imply CDC endorsement. WONDER's data-use restrictions apply: health statistical reporting and analysis only, and no count of 9 or fewer is published. Palanor checks monthly; NCHS adds a final year once a year.