Volume 47 - Article 2 | Pages 37–58  

Measuring US fertility using administrative data from the Census Bureau

By Katie Genadek, Joshua Sanders, Amanda Stevenson

Abstract

Background: Longitudinal data available for studying fertility in the United States are not representative at the state level, limiting analyses of subnational variation in US fertility. The US Census Bureau makes available restricted data that may be used for measuring fertility, but the data have not previously been described for a scholarly audience or used for fertility research.

Objective: This paper describes and analyzes restricted-use administrative birth data available through the Census Numident for nearly all US births for more than the last century. Within these data, most births since 1997 are linked to parents through the Census Household Composition Key (CHCK). These analyses are designed to illustrate the scope and limitations of these data for the study of US fertility.

Methods: We describe the creation and content of the Census Numindent and CHCK data sets and compare the data to published US vital statistics. We also analyze the geographic coverage of both data sets and compare the demographic composition of the new data sources to national demographic composition. We further illustrate how these novel data sources may be used by comparing them to survey responses at the individual level.

Contribution: This paper describes an underutilized source of national US data for studying fertility, shows the quality of these data by performing analyses, and explains how scholars can access these data for research.

Author's Affiliation

• Katie Genadek - United States Census Bureau, United States of America EMAIL
• Joshua Sanders - University of Colorado Boulder, United States of America EMAIL
• Amanda Stevenson - University of Colorado Boulder, United States of America EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Parents’ time with a partner in a cross-national context: A comparison of the United States, Spain, and France
Volume 36 - Article 4

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Uncovering the underlying causes for the narrowing, stalling, and widening Black–White mortality gap from 2000 to 2022 in the United States
Volume 52 - Article 18    | Keywords: cause of death, decomposition, mortality trends, racial disparities, United States of America, years of life lost (YLL)

Job creation, job destruction, and fertility in Germany
Volume 52 - Article 13    | Keywords: fertility, gender, Germany, job creation, job destruction, labor market, spatial modelling, unemployment

The changing inter-relationship between partnership dynamics and fertility trends in Europe and the United States: A review
Volume 52 - Article 7    | Keywords: childbearing, Europe, family complexity, fertility, fertility, marriage, partnership, United States of America

Studying individuals in same-sex couples using longitudinal administrative data from Canadian tax records: Opportunities and challenges
Volume 52 - Article 2    | Keywords: administrative data, Canada, Longitudinal Administrative Databank, same-sex couples, sexual orientation, sexual orientation earnings gap, tax data

Educational trends in cohort fertility by birth order: A comparison of England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland
Volume 51 - Article 36    | Keywords: birth order, cohort analysis, cross-national study, England, family size, fertility, Northern Ireland, parity, Scotland, Wales