Introduction

Documentation of the Detail Natality Data File for 2000 Data - U.S.,
          Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the
          Northern Marianas

This CD-ROM documentation was prepared in the Division of Vital Statistics.
Manju Sharma of the Systems and Programming Branch was responsible for
developing the natality documentation and for providing all of the computer
programming services necessary to keep it up-to-date.  Melissa Park and Brady Hamilton
of the Reproductive Statistics Branch prepared the Technical Appendix.  The
Registration Methods Branch and the Data Acquisition and Evaluation Branch
provided consultation to State Vital Statistics offices regarding collection
of birth certificate data.

Questions on the documentation or general questions concerning the
natality file should be directed to the Systems, Programming, and Statistical
Resources  Branch, Division of Vital Statistics, NCHS, 6525 Belcrest Road, Room 840, Hyattsville, 
Md. 20782  (301-458-4495).

Questions concerning the Technical Appendix or substantive questions
concerning the natality data should be directed to the Reproductive Statistics
Branch, Division of Vital Statistics, NCHS, 6525 Belcrest Road, Room 820,
Hyattsville, Md. 20782 (301-458-4111).

Since 1985 natality statistics for all States and the District of
Columbia have been based on information from the total file of records.
The information is received on computer data tapes coded by the States
and provided to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) through
the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program.  NCHS receives the data for this
file from the registration offices of all States, the District of Columbia,
and New York City.  Natality data for Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, 
American Samoa, and Northern Marianas are included as a separate file.

Natality data for the United States are limited to births occurring within
the United States to U.S. residents and nonresidents.  Births to non-
residents of the United States are excluded from all tabulations by place
of residence.  Births occurring to U.S. citizens outside the United States
are not included in this file.  Natality data for Puerto Rico, Virgin
Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and Northern Marianas are limited to births occurring within the
respective territories.

Effective January 1, 1989, a revised U.S. Standard Certificate of Live
Birth replaced the 1978 revision.  The 1989 revision provides a wide variety
of new information on maternal and infant health characteristics, represent-
ing a significant departure from previous versions in both content and
format.  For a more detailed discussion of the revised and new items refer
to the technical appendix on this CD ROM.

The Office of Management and Budget revised its designation of metropolitan
statistical areas based on figures from the 1990 Census.  Effective with the
1990 data file, NCHS has been using these new definitions and codes as
indicated in the listing of 320 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs),
Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas(PMSAs), and New England County
Metropolitan Areas (NECMAs) included on this CD ROM.  There are also 20
Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Areas (CMSAs), which are made up of
PMSAs.  Because other geographic changes based on 1990 Census became

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effective with the 1994 data file, the metropolitan statistical area
designation was updated as well.  Effective with the 1994 data file there
are 311 MSAs, PMSA, and NECMAs and 18 CMSA as indicated in the listing
included in this documentation.

NCHS has adopted a new policy on release of vital statistics unit record
data files.  This new policy was implemented for the 1989 vital event files
to prevent the inadvertent disclosure of individuals and institutions.  As
a result, the files for 1989 and later years do not contain the acutal day
of the birth or the dates of birth of the mother and father.  The geographic
detail is also restricted; only counties and cities of 100,000 or more popu-
lation based on the 1990 Census, as well as metropolitan areas of 100,000 or
more population based on the 1990 Census, are identified.









































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