Mortality Data - Vital Statistics NCHS Multiple Cause of Death Data

Multiple Cause-of-Death Mortality Data from the National Vital Statistics System of the National Center for Health Statistics provides mortality data by multiple causes of death for all deaths occurring within the United States. Each record in the microdata is 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 1991-1998, and the Tenth Revision 1999 on. Variables describing infant cause of death and infant age are included.

The use of this data signifies agreement with NCHS' data use rules. Works referring to the datasets or codebooks should contain a citation to NCHS. Published material derived from this data should include a citation such as this at the bottom of the table: "Source: National Center for Health Statistics (span of years used)"

NBER internal users can obtain the data from a UNIX shell at `/homes/data/nvss/mortality`.

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

1982 is the first file with both FIPS and NCHS county codes. An NCHS to FIPS state, county, and MSA crosswalk is available.

Note regarding the 1959-1967 data:   The chief of the NCHS mortality branch has said that while the 1959-1967 files are generally ok, they have not been rigorously verified. "Counts by selected causes and demographic groups seem to match up with VSUS, but because in some cases these files had to be reconstructed and pieced together from different sources-some were damaged or lost-we cannot at this time be certain as to their accuracy."