NSFG - Listing B - Key Statistics from the National Survey of Family Growth (2024)

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

	2002¹	2006-2010²	2011-2015²
Mean age at first birth for women 15-44 years of age who ever had a liveborn child	22.9	23.0	23.1 (0.16)

Sources:

¹NHSR No. 51, Table 7 pdf icon[PDF – 543 KB]

²Special tabulation by NCHS

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:

	2002¹	2006-2010²	2011-2015²
Married	62.3%	54.4%	50.1% (1.29)
Cohabiting	12.4%	21.9%	25.8% (0.96)
Unmarried and not cohabiting	25.3%	23.6%	24.1% (0.88)

Sources:

¹NHSR No. 51, Table 11 pdf icon[PDF 543 KB]

²Special tabulation by NCHS

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

	2002¹	2006-2010¹	2011-2015²
Married	64.4%	59.7%	61.2% (1.54)
Cohabiting	14.3%	23.4%	26.2% (1.17)
Unmarried and not cohabiting	21.3%	16.9%	12.6% (0.78)

Sources:

¹ NHSR No. 51, Table 12 pdf icon[PDF – 543 KB]

Number of children ever born (parity)

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

	2002¹	2006-2010¹	2011-2015²
No children	15.0%	15.4%	15.0% (1.21)
One child	18.0%	15.2%	16.8% (1.35)
Two children	31.6%	35.0%	33.7% (1.78)
Three children	20.7%	20.2%	22.0% (1.54)
Four or more children	14.4%	14.2%	12.6% (1.24)

Sources:

¹NHSR No. 51, Table 3 pdf icon[PDF – 543 KB]

²Special tabulation by NCHS

Premarital/nonmarital status of births

	2002¹	2006-2010¹	2011-2015²
Percentage of mothers (women 15-44 years of age who ever had a birth) that have ever had a nonmarital birth	42.2%	49.3%	54.0% (1.24)

Sources:

¹NHSR No. 51, Table 13 pdf icon[PDF – 543 KB]

²Special tabulation by NCHS

Births (fathers)

Age at first birth fathered

	2002¹	2006-2010¹	2011-2015²
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	25.5 (0.16)

Sources:

¹NHSR No. 51, Table 7 pdf icon[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):

	2002¹	2006-2010¹	2011-2015²
Currently or formerly married to thechild’s mother	66.2%	58.6%	57.2% (1.43)
Cohabiting with the child’s mother	18.2%	25.4%	26.4% (1.09)
Unmarried and not cohabiting with the child’s mother	15.6%	16.0%	16.4% (0.90)

Sources:

¹NHSR No. 51, Table 11 pdf icon[PDF – 543 KB]

²Special tabulation by NCHS

Number of biological children ever fathered

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

	2002¹	2006-2010²	2011-2015³
No children	22.4%	23.6%	19.6% (1.48)
One child	19.9%	18.2%	20.2% (1.44)
Two children	25.0%	31.2%	30.9% (1.89)
Three or more children	32.7%	26.9%	29.3% (1.64)

Sources:

¹Series 23, No 26, Table 4 pdf icon[PDF – 3.3 MB]

²NHSR No. 51. Table 4 pdf icon[PDF – 543 KB]

³Special tabulation by NCHS

Birth expectations

Average number of children expected by men and women in their lifetimes:

	2002¹	2006-2010¹	2011-2015²
Women 15-44 years of age	2.3	2.3	2.3 (0.02)
Men 15-44 years of age	2.2	2.2	2.2 (0.03)

Sources:

¹NHSR No. 51, Table 5 pdf icon[PDF -543 KB]

²Special tabulation by NCHS

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

Percentage of women who expect:	2002¹	2006-2010¹	2011-2015²
No births	8.9%	8.3%	9.5% (0.47)
1birth	13.4%	12.5%	12.5% (0.45)
2 births	42.1%	40.9%	41.3% (0.81)
3 births	22.1%	24.0%	23.3% (0.63)
4 or more births	13.5%	14.3%	13.3% ( 0.65)

Sources:

¹NHSR No. 51, Table 6 pdf icon[PDF – 543 KB]

²Special tabulation by NCHS

Breast-feeding

Initiation of breast-feeding

	Singleton babies born in 2008-2010	Singleton babies born in 2011-2013
Percent who were breast-fed at all	73.1% (1.54)	78.6% (1.84)

Source: Special tabulation by NCHS based on 2011-2015 NSFG for Health US 2017 report.

Duration of breast-feeding

	Singleton babies born 2008-2010	Singleton babies born 2011-2013
Percent who were breast-fed 3 months or more	50.2% (1.84)	56.6% (2.01)

Source: Special tabulation by NCHS based on 2011-2015 NSFG for Health US 2017 report