National Vital Statistics System


The National Vital Statistics System is an inter-governmental system of sharing data on the vital statistics of the population of [the United States]. It involves coordination between the different state health departments of the US states and the National Center for Health Statistics, a division of the Centers for [Disease Control and Prevention].

Data and publications

The National Vital Statistics System includes the following data sets and publications:
  • Vital Statistics of the United States: The data set goes back to 1890.
  • National Vital Statistics Report: This is a monthly report that goes back to January 1998. The earlier version of this report, called the Monthly Vital Statistics Report, goes back to July 1964.
  • Other reports
All data is accessible online on the NVSS website.

Related programs

The following programs are related to the National Vital Statistics System:

Academic research

Data from the National Vital Statistics System has been cited in academic research on many topics, including births and homicides.
A 1995 paper by Weed for Population Index described the history of NVSS and how to prepare it for the next century.

Use as a standard source

Libraries and other link collections have pointed to the NVSS as an official data source for the vital statistics of the United States.