Hispanic origin

Hispanic origin includes people of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central and South American, Dominican, and other or unknown Latin American or Spanish origin. People of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

Birth file

Information about the Hispanic origin of the mother and father is provided by the mother at the time of birth and is recorded on the birth certificate. The geographic reporting area for a Hispanic-origin item on the birth certificate was expanded between 1980 and 1993 (when the Hispanic item was included on the birth certificate in all states and the District of Columbia [D.C.]). Trend data on births for Hispanic and non-Hispanic mothers in Health, United States are affected by expansion of the reporting areas, which affects numbers of events, composition of the Hispanic population, and maternal and infant health characteristics.

In 1980 and 1981, information on births for Hispanic mothers was reported on the birth certificate by the following 22 states: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. In 1982, Tennessee, and in 1983, D.C. began reporting this information. For 1983–1987, information on births for Hispanic mothers was available for 23 states and D.C. In 1988, this information became available for Alabama, Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Montana, North Carolina, and Washington, increasing the number of states reporting information on births for Hispanic mothers to 30 states and D.C. In 1989, this information became available from an additional 17 states, increasing the number of Hispanic-reporting states to 47 and D.C. In 1989, only Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma did not report Hispanic origin of the mother on the birth certificate. With the inclusion of Louisiana and Oklahoma in 1990 as Hispanic-reporting states, 99% of birth records included information on the mother’s Hispanic origin. Hispanic origin of the mother was reported on the birth certificates of 49 states and D.C. in 1991 and 1992; only New Hampshire did not provide this information. Starting in 1993, Hispanic origin of the mother is reported by all 50 states and D.C.

Starting with 2003 data, some states began using the 2003 revision of the U.S. Standard Certificate of Live Birth. As of 2016, all states, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands have implemented the 2003 revised birth certificate. Race and Hispanic origin are collected separately on the birth certificate. The Hispanic-origin question on the 2003 revision of the birth certificate asks respondents to select only one response. Occasionally, more than one Hispanic-origin response is given (that is, a specified Hispanic-origin group [Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or Central and South American] in combination with one or more other specified Hispanic-origin groups). Before 2018, people of Dominican origin were included in the other Hispanic-origin group. Starting with 2018 data, Dominican is also a specified Hispanic-origin group, and 32,072 women identified themselves as Dominican in 2018. From 2003 through 2012, respondents who selected more than one Hispanic origin on the birth certificate were classified as other Hispanic. In 2012, 0.4% of births in the revised state-reporting area, plus Massachusetts (an unrevised state that also reported more than one Hispanic-origin response), were to women reporting more than one Hispanic origin. Beginning with 2013 data, respondents who select more than one Hispanic origin are randomly assigned to a single Hispanic origin. The number of births to other and unknown Hispanic women increased steadily from 48,972 in 2003 to 146,849 in 2017. The numbers for this group declined from 2017 to 2018 (115,792) because of the addition of the separate Dominican group. Factors that may have influenced the increase are not clear but may include less specificity in respondent reporting of Hispanic origin and increases in the populations of groups included in the other Hispanic category. The Hispanic-origin question on the 1989 revision of the birth certificate also offered the opportunity to report more than one origin; however, National Center for Health Statistics processing guidelines for unrevised data allowed for coding only the first Hispanic origin listed.

Fetal death data set

Information about the Hispanic origin of the mother is based on fetal deaths to mothers of Hispanic origin who are residents of those states and the District of Columbia that include items on the U.S. Standard Report of Fetal Death to identify Hispanic or ethnic origin of the mother. Starting in 2004, this information is recommended to be obtained directly from the mother using the Patient’s Worksheet for the Report of Fetal Death. Hispanic origin on the fetal death report was not reported in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma in 1995–1997, Maryland and Oklahoma in 1998, and Oklahoma in 1999–2004. In tabulations of fetal death data by race and Hispanic origin, data for people of Hispanic origin are not further classified by race because most Hispanic women are reported as White.

Linked birth/infant death data set

Includes self-reported race and Hispanic origin information from the mother or family members. This information is particularly useful for computing accurate infant mortality rates by race and Hispanic origin because the race and Hispanic origin of the mother from the birth certificate are used in both the numerator and denominator of the linked birth/infant death infant mortality rate. In contrast, infant mortality rates based on the vital statistics mortality file use race and Hispanic origin as reported on the death certificate for the numerator and race and Hispanic origin of the mother as reported on the birth certificate for the denominator. Race and Hispanic-origin information from the birth certificate, which is reported by the mother, is considered more reliable than race and Hispanic-origin information from the death certificate, which is reported by the funeral director based on information provided by an informant or by observation. See “Birth file” and “Mortality file” in this section.

Mortality file

The geographic reporting area for a Hispanic-origin item on the death certificate was expanded between 1985 and 1997. In 1985, mortality data by Hispanic origin of decedent were based on deaths of residents in the following 17 states and D.C. whose data on the death certificate were in a comparable format and at least 90% complete for place of occurrence: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. In 1986, New Jersey began reporting Hispanic origin of decedent, increasing the number of reporting states to 18 and D.C. in 1986 and 1987. In 1988, Alabama, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington were added to the reporting area, increasing the number of states to 26 and D.C. In 1989, 18 more states were added, increasing the Hispanic-reporting area to 44 states and D.C.; only Connecticut, Louisiana, Maryland, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Virginia were not included in the reporting area. Starting with 1990 data in Health, United States, the criterion has been changed to include states whose data are at least 80% complete for place of occurrence. As a result, the reporting area for Hispanic origin of decedent increased to 47 states and D.C. in 1990 (adding Maryland, Virginia, and Connecticut); 48 states and D.C. in 1991 (adding Louisiana); and 49 states and D.C. in 1993–1996 (adding New Hampshire). Only Oklahoma did not provide this information in 1993–1996. Starting in 1997, Hispanic origin of decedent is reported by all 50 states and D.C. Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the 1990 reporting area encompassed 99.6% of the U.S. Hispanic population. In 1990, more than 96% of death records included information on Hispanic origin of the decedent.

Starting with 2003 data, some states began using the 2003 revision of the U.S. Standard Certificate of Death, which allows the reporting of more than one race (multiple races) and includes some revisions to the item reporting Hispanic origin. The effect of the 2003 revision of the Hispanic-origin item on the reporting of Hispanic origin on death certificates is presumed to be minor. For more information, see Sources and Definitions, Race. Also see the Technical Notes sections of the annual series of “Deaths: Final Data” reports; and “NCHS Procedures for Multiple-Race and Hispanic Origin Data: Collection, Coding, Editing, and Transmitting.”

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)

Questions on Hispanic origin were self-reported in NHANES III (1988–1994) and have been self-reported for all years of continuous NHANES (starting in 1999). Questions on Hispanic origin precede questions on race. People of Hispanic origin other than Mexican were entered into the sample with different selection probabilities that are not nationally representative of the total U.S. Hispanic population. Starting with 2007–2008 data collection, all Hispanic people are oversampled, not just people of Mexican origin. In addition to allowing estimates for the total group of Hispanic people, the sample size for Hispanic people of Mexican origin is sufficient to continue to produce reliable estimates for this group. However, the methodology for oversampling Hispanic people does not provide sufficient sample sizes for calculating estimates for other Hispanic subgroups besides Mexican origin. For 1999–2006 NHANES data, the NHANES sample was designed to provide estimates specifically for people of Mexican origin and not for all Hispanic-origin people in the United States. For more information on the NHANES sampling methodology changes, see “National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey: Sample Design, 2011–2014”; and the NHANES analytic guidelines.

National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)

Data on Hispanic origin have been self-reported in NHIS since 1976, and in 1978, race and Hispanic origin were asked for the first time in a two-question format. Over time, the placement and wording of both the race and Hispanic-origin questions have varied considerably. For information on race and Hispanic origin in NHIS, see the survey’s “Race and Hispanic Origin Information” page.