NVSS – Birth Data

In the United States, state law requires the completion of birth certificates for all births, and federal law requires the national collection and publication of birth and other vital statistics data. The National Vital Statistics System, the federal compilation of these data, is the result of cooperation between the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and states to provide access to statistical information from birth records.

standard forms for data collection and model procedures for the uniform recording of events are developed and recommended for state use through cooperative activities of the states and NCHS. Material is available to help people complete the death certificate. NCHS shares the costs incurred by States in providing vital statistics data for national use.