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

Births According to provisional reports, an estimated 340,000 births occurred in the United States during April 1997. This was an 8-percent increase from the provisional number of births reported for April 1996 (314,000). The birth rate, 15.5 live births per 1,000 population, was 7 percent higher than the rate of 14.5 for April 1996. The fertility rate, 69.4 live births per 1,000 women 15–44 years, was 8 percent higher than the comparable rate for April 1996 (64.3). The seasonally adjusted fertility rate (71.2) was also 8 percent higher than the comparable rate for April 1996 (65.9). During the first 4 months of 1997, an estimated 1,241,000 births occurred, a 1-percent decrease from the 1,253,000 reported for the first one-third of 1996. The birth rate for this period decreased by 1 percent from 14.3 in 1996 to 14.2 in 1997. The fertility rate for the first one-third of 1997 was 63.3, 1 percent lower than the rate for the first one-third of 1996 (63.7). An estimated 3,887,000 live births occurred in the 12-month period ending with April 1997, a slight increase from the 3,857,000 births reported for the same period a year earlier. The birth rate of 14.6 was the same as the rate for the preceding 12-month period. The fertility rate for the most recent 12-month period was 65.2, slightly higher than the rate for the 12 months ending with April 1996 (64.8). This combination of a constant birth rate and only a slightly changed fertility rate points to a slowdown of the generally downward trend observed since early 1991. As a result of natural increase, the excess of births over deaths, an estimated 151,000 people, or 6.9 persons per 1,000 population, were added to the population during April 1997. For the 12-month period ending with April 1997, 1,591,000 persons were added to the population. [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]