Key Statistics from the National Survey of Family Growth

 

B Listing

• Birth control - See Contraception
• Births (mothers)
  • Age at first birth
  • Marital or cohabiting status of mother at time of birth
  • Number of children ever born (parity)
  • Premarital/nonmarital status of births
  • Attitudes about childbearing - See Attitudes:  Parenthood and childbearing
• Births (fathers)
  • Age at first birth fathered
  • Marital or cohabiting status of father at time of birth
  • Number of biological children ever fathered
  • Attitudes about childbearing - See Attitudes: Parenthood and childbearing
• Birth expectations
• Breast-feeding
  • Initiation of breast-feeding
  • Duration of breast-feeding

 

Births (mothers)

 

Age at first birth

 

	2002	2006-2010
Mean age at first birth for women 15-44 years of age who ever had a liveborn child	22.9	23.0

Source: NHSR No. 51, Table 7 [PDF - 543 KB]

 

Marital or cohabiting status of mother at time of birth

 

Percent distribution by marital or cohabiting status of women 15-44 years of age when their first child was born:

	2002	2006-2010
Married when first child was born	62.3%	54.4%
Cohabiting	12.4%	21.9%
Unmarried and not cohabiting	25.3%	23.6%

Source: NHSR No. 51, Table 11 [PDF 543 KB]

 

Percent distribution by marital or cohabiting status at birth for births in the last 5 years to women 15-44 years of age:

	2002	2006-2010
Married when child was born	64.4%	59.7%
Cohabiting when child was born	14.3%	23.4%
Unmarried and not cohabiting	21.3%	16.9%

Source: NHSR No. 51, Table 12 [PDF - 543 KB]

 

Number of children ever born (parity)

 

Percent distribution of women 40-44 years of age by number of children ever born:

	2002	2006-2010
No children	15.0%	15.4%
One child	18.0%	15.2%
Two children	31.6%	35.0%
Three children	20.7%	20.2%
Four or more children	14.4%	14.2%

Source: NHSR No. 51, Table 3 [PDF - 543 KB]

 

Premarital/nonmarital status of births

 

	2002	2006-2010
Percent of mothers (women 15-44 years of age who ever had a birth) that have ever had a nonmarital birth	42.2%	49.3%

Source: NHSR No. 51, Table 13 [PDF - 543 KB]

 

Births (fathers)

 

Age at first birth fathered

 

	2002	2006-2010
Mean age at the birth of their first biological child for men 15-44 years of age who ever fathered a biological child	25.1	25.1

Source: NHSR No. 51, Table 7 [PDF - 543 KB]

 

Marital or cohabiting status of father at time of birth

 

Marital or cohabiting status of father when his first child was born for men 15-44 years of age (who had ever fathered a child):

	2002	2006-2010
Currently or formerly married to child's mother	66.2%	58.6%
Cohabiting	18.2%	25.4%
Unmarried and not cohabiting	15.6%	16.0%

Source: NHSR No. 51, Table 11 [PDF - 543 KB]

 

Number of biological children ever fathered

 

Percent distribution of men 40-44 years of age by number of children ever fathered:

	20021	2006-20102
No children	22.4%	23.6%
One child	19.9%	18.2%
Two children	25.0%	31.2%
Three or more children	32.7%	26.9%

Sources:

¹Series 23, No 26, Table 4 [PDF - 3.3 MB]

²NHSR No. 51. Table 4 [PDF - 543 KB]

 

Birth expectations

 

	2002	2006-2010
Average number of births expected by women 15-44 years of age	2.3	2.3

Source: NHSR No. 51, Table 5 [PDF -543 KB]

 

Percent distribution of women 15-44 years of age by expected number of births in their lifetimes:

 

	2002	2006-2010
Percent of women who expect no births in their lifetime	8.9%	8.3%
Percent who expect one birth	13.4%	12.5%
Percent who expect 2 births	42.1%	40.9%
Percent who expect 3 births	22.1%	24.0%
Percent who expect 4 or more births	13.5%	14.3%

Source: NHSR No. 51, Table 6 [PDF - 543 KB]

 

	2002	2006-2010
Average number of children expected by men 15-44 years of age	2.2	2.2

Source: NHSR No. 51, Table 5 [PDF -543 KB]

 

Breast-feeding

 

Initiation of breast-feeding

 

	Singleton babies born in 1997-20001	Singleton babies born in 2001 - 20052
Percent who were breast-fed at all	66.8%	68.1%

Sources:

¹Series 23, No. 25, Table 78 [PDF - 4.7 MB]

²Special tabulation by NCHS

 

Duration of breast-feeding

 

	Singleton babies born 1997-20001	Singleton babies born 2001-20052
Percent who were breast-fed 3 months or more	48.0%	49.8%
Percent who were breast-fed 6 months or more	34.9%	37.3%
Percent who were breast-fed 12 months or more	17.3%	17.0%

Sources:

¹Series 23, No. 25, Table 78 [PDF - 4.7 MB]

²Special tabulation by NCHS