Births, marriages, divorces, and deaths for August 1997.

Births According to provisional reports, an estimated 339,000 births occurred in the United States during August 1997. This was a 6-percent decrease from the provisional number of births reported for August 1996 (360,000). The birth rate, 14.9 live births per 1,000 population, was 7 percent lower than August 1996 (16.0). The fertility rate, 66.9 live births per 1,000 women 15–44 years, was 6 percent lower than the comparable rate for August 1996 (71.3). The seasonally adjusted fertility rate (63.1) was also 6 percent lower than the comparable rate for August 1996 (67.3). During the first two-thirds of 1997, an estimated 2,555,000 births occurred, a 1-percent decrease from the 2,591,000 births reported for the first two-thirds of 1996. The birth rate declined by 2 percent from 14.7 in 1996 to 14.4 in 1997. The fertility rate for the first two-thirds of 1997 was 64.3, 2 percent lower than the rate for the same period of 1996 (65.3). An estimated 3,863,000 live births occurred in the 12-month period ending with August 1997, a slight rise from the 3,855,000 births reported for the same period a year earlier. The birth rate of 14.5 was 1 percent lower than the rate of 14.6 for the preceding 12-month period. The fertility rate for the most recent 12-month period was 64.8, the same as the rate for the 12-month period ending with August 1996. These fairly steady rates continued the slowing of the downward trend that had been observed since early 1991. As a result of natural increase, the excess of births over deaths, an estimated 161,000 people were added to the population during August 1997 at an annual rate of 7.1 persons per 1,000 population. For the 12-month period ending with August 1997, 1,560,000 persons were added to the population. This represented a rate of natural increase of 5.9, the same as the rate for the preceding 12-month period. The steady rate of natural increase was due to similar small decreases in the birth rate and the death rate. [Rates for infant deaths are deaths under 1 year per 1,000 live births; fertility rates are live births per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years; all other rates are per 1,000 total population. Data are subject to monthly reporting variation; see Technical notes] Item August January–August 12 months ending with August