Birth Data
![baby with stethoscope](/nchs/images/nvss/baby_stethoscope.jpg?_=76099)
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. 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.
Data for United States in 2022
- Number of births: 3,667,758
- Birth rate: 11.0 per 1,000 population
- Fertility rate: 56.0 births per 1000 women aged 15-44 years
- Prenatal care initiated in the 1st trimester: 77.0%
- Percent born preterm (less than 37 completed weeks of gestation): 10.38%
- Percent cesarean delivery: 32.1%
- Medicaid as source of payment for the delivery: 41.3%
Webinar
Publications
- U.S. State Life Tables, 2021 [PDF – 1,127 KB] (8/21/2024)
- Births in the United States, 2023 (8/20/2024)
- Births: Final Data for 2022 [PDF – 1,077 KB] (4/4/2024)
- Infant Mortality by Selected Maternal Characteristics and Race and Hispanic Origin in the United States, 2019–2021 [PDF – 336 KB] (3/5/2024)
- Trends and Characteristics in Maternal Syphilis Rates During Pregnancy: United States, 2016–2022 (2/13/2024)
- Shifts in the Distribution of Births by Gestational Age: United States, 2014–2022 [PDF – 404 KB] (1/31/2024)
- Perinatal Mortality in the United States, 2020–2021 (12/7/2023)
- Characteristics of Mothers Admitted to Intensive Care Units During Hospitalization for Delivery of a Live-born Infant: United States, 2020–2022 (12/7/2023)
- Fetal Mortality in the United States: Final 2020–2021 and 2021–Provisional 2022 [PDF – 455 KB] (11/8/2023)
- Infant Mortality in the United States, 2021: Data From the Period Linked Birth/Infant Death File [PDF – 634] (9/12/2023)
- Births in the United States, 2022 (8/23/2023)
Public Use Data
- 2016-2020 Matched Multiple Birth and Fetal Death Data File (5/29/2024)
- 2021 Birth Data Files (8/29/2022)