Vital Statistics Mortality Data at the NBER

The National Vital Statistics System of the National Center for Health Statistics collects vital statistics data for the U.S. Government which can be used by researchers and policymakers to monitor and improve the Nation's health. NBER has a collection of vital statistics death microdata available for download.

• Birth Cohort Linked Birth/Infant Death Data includes all births in a given calendar year occuring within the United States and all deaths for the infants born during that calendar year who died before reaching one year of age. The data from the birth certificates and the death certificates are useful for studying infant mortality. More recent Linked Birth/Infant Death Data are included in the Perinatal Mortality Data File below.
• 1968-1988 Compressed Mortality File Data consists of a mortality data file and a population data file. The mortality file contains the following seven variables: state and county of residence, year of death (rather than the full date of death), race (recoded to white, black, other races), sex, age group at death (specific age recoded to 16 age groups), underlying cause-of-death (4-digit ICD code), 69 or 72 cause-of-death recode. The population file contains Census national, state and county population estimates. The age, race, and sex detail of the population file matches the mortality file.
• Multiple Cause of Death Data. provides mortality data by multiple cause of death for all deaths occuring within the United States. The data are based on information abstracted from death certificates filed in vital statistics offices of each State and District of Columbia. Causes of death were coded according to the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision. Variables describing infant cause of death and infant age are included. U.S. Territories (Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and Guam) are included on separate data files beginning in 1994.
• Perinatal Mortality Data. combines the Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data and the Fetal Death Data. Infant deaths and fetal deaths can be distinguished using the variable OUTCOME. The Fetal Death Data File includes all fetal deaths in a given calendar year occuring in the United States and the District of Columbia. U.S. Territories data (Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and Guam) are included on separate data files. Fetal death registration requirements vary; however, most areas require reporting of fetal deaths of gestations of 20 weeks or more.
• Vital Statistics Books has PDFs of pre-1968 vital statistics tables.

Death Certificates 1949 Revision

U.S. Standard Population data is taken from National Vital Statistics Reports Volume 47, Number 3

SEER provides helpful U.S. Population data for 1969 on.

Contact data@nber.org with questions, comments, or suggestions.