VSRR Quarterly Provisional Birth Indicators

U.S. provisional estimates of selected reproductive health indicators are provided quarterly. The dataset includes general fertility rates, age-specific birth rates, cesarean delivery rates, and preterm birth rates. Data is broken down by demographic subgroups and includes statistical significance flags.

Use Cases

• Tracking quarterly trends in general fertility rates using the 'Topic', 'Year and Quarter', and 'Rate' columns.
• Analyzing disparities in cesarean delivery rates by demographic group using 'Topic Subgroup', 'Race Ethnicity Category', and 'Rate'.
• Monitoring preterm birth rates over time and assessing statistical significance using 'Indicator', 'Year and Quarter', and 'Significant'.

Strengths

• Cross-platform presence on Socrata and Data.gov signals importance and broad availability.
• Data is structured with detailed breakdowns by 'Topic Subgroup' and 'Race Ethnicity Category'.
• Includes a 'Significant' column for statistical flagging of estimates.

Limitations

• Row counts and dataset size are inconsistently reported or unknown across all sources.
• License is ambiguously reported as 'other-license-specified' or 'None'.
• The 'last updated' dates conflict between sources, with one showing 2026-04-10 and another 2025-09-19.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

Collection Method

Provisional estimates from the Vital Statistics Rapid Release (VSRR) program.

Freshness

Most recent update reported is 2026-04-10 21:00:23.042232.

Geography

United States