Monthly Vital Statistics Reports

Annual Summary of Births, Marriages, Divorces, and Deaths: United States, 1994

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has released a new report that presents 1994 provisional estimates of births, marriages, divorces, and deaths. These statistics are based on data collected from vital records from State vital statistics offices in the United States.

Data Highlights:

• In 1994 an estimated 3,797,000 babies were born in the United States. This represents a decline of 1 percent from the 1993 figure of 4,039,000 births. The birth rate was 15.3 live births per 1,000 population.
• Approximately 2,362,000 couples married in 1994 and 1,191,000 couples divorced in 1994.
• During 1994 an estimated 2,268,000 deaths occurred in the United States. This is the highest number ever reported in the United States.
• The expectation of life at birth in 1994 was 75.7 years, but slightly lower than the record high of 75.8 years in 1992. Provisional data show that for the white population, life expectancy increased by 0.2 years for males (73.2) and 0.1 years for females (79.6). For the black population, life expectancy at birth increased 0.2 years for males (64.9) and 0.4 years for females (74.1).