NCHStats

The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) gathers information on family life, marriage and divorce, pregnancy, infertility, use of contraception, and men’s and women’s health. The survey results are used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and others to plan health services and health education programs and to do statistical studies of families, fertility, and health.

Key statistics from NSFG can be found at the following web address: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/nsfg/abclist.htm.

• More than 1 in 20 Americans aged 12 and over currently have depression (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005-2006).
• Over 33,000 suicides occurred in 2006; that’s about 11 deaths per 100,000 population (National Vital Statistics System, 2006).
• Of visits to physician offices for chronic conditions, 9.5% were for depression in 2006, up from 7.5% in 1996 (National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 2006).
• Over the past month, nearly 10% of adults felt sad at least some of the time, and another 5% felt hopeless or worthless (National Health Interview Survey, 2007).

 For more information visit Monitoring the Nation’s Health Care, Spring 2009.

Births to unmarried women in the United States totaled 1,714,643 in 2007, 26% more than in 2002. Nearly 4 in 10 U.S. births were to unmarried women in 2007.

The United States is not unique nor does it outpace other countries in nonmarital childbearing. For example, well over one half of recent births to Icelandic, Swedish, and Norwegian women were nonmarital. Proportions of nonmarital births were also high for births to French and Danish women.

The proportions in the United States, nonetheless, are considerably higher than in some industrialized countries. For example, less than 30% of births were to unmarried women in Spain, Canada, Italy, and Japan. Click on the chart below or visit the complete report at www.cdc.gov/nchs.

This is the largest 6-month increase observed since NHIS began collecting data on wireless-only households in 2003.