New Report Presents Rates of Reproduction for 1990-2002 and Latest U.S. Intrinsic Rates

For Immediate Release: March 18, 2004

Contact: NCHS/CDC Public Affairs, (301) 458-4800

Reproduction Rates for 1990-2002 and Intrinsic Rates for 2000-2001: United States. NVSR Volume 52, Number 17. 12 pp. (PHS) 2004-1120 [PDF – 895 KB]

Demographers, statisticians, and other researchers have an important new resource to understand the patterns of fertility, population growth, and change in the United States with the publication of “Reproduction Rates for 1990-2002 and Intrinsic Rates for 2000-2001: United States.” This new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) presents revised rates of reproduction for 1990-93, reproduction rates for 1994-2002, and intrinsic rates for 2000-2001. The revised rates for 1991-93 are based on populations consistent with the 2000 census, as are the rates for 1994-2002. Most of these rates for the United States have not been available since 1993.

The report includes rates of reproduction (total fertility rates, gross reproduction rates, and net reproduction rates), the intrinsic rate of natural increase, intrinsic birth rate, and intrinsic death rate. The rates of reproduction measure the total number of births expected for a group of women over their lifetime, whereas the intrinsic rates measure the births, deaths, and growth of a population expected if the birth and mortality rates of a given year were to remain unchanged. These rates are standardized so that comparisons can be made among groups or over time.

The report showed that rates of reproduction and the intrinsic birth rate were lower in 2001 than in 1990. Among the race and Hispanic subgroups, the total fertility and gross reproduction rates were lower for all groups except Cuban and white women. The overall intrinsic birth rate declined between 1990 and 2001, with the rate increasing for the white population but decreasing for the black population. This report serves as a complementary analysis to the annual final and preliminary birth rates published by NCHS and can be viewed or downloaded from the NCHS Web site.