Births, marriages, divorces, and deaths for November 1997.

The fertility rate, 61.4 live births per 1,000 women 15–44 years, was 4 percent lower than the comparable rate for November 1996 (63.9). The seasonally adjusted fertility rate (63.4) was also 4 percent lower than the comparable rate for November 1996 (66.0).000 live births occurred in the 12-month period ending with November 1997, a 2-percent decrease from the 3,897,000 births reported for the same period a year earlier. The birth rate of 14.4 was 2 percent lower than the rate of 14.7 for the preceding 12-month period. The fertility rate for the most recent 12-month period was 64.3, 2 percent lower than the rate for the 12 months ending with November 1996. These lower rates continued the generally downward trend observed since early 1991. As a result of natural increase, the excess of births over deaths, an estimated 124,000 people were added to the population during November 1997 at an annual rate of 5.7 persons per 1,000 population. For the 12-month period ending with November 1997, 1,548,000 persons were added to the population. This represented a rate of natural increase of 5.8, 3 percent lower than the rate for the preceding 12-month period (6.0). This decline in the rate of natural increase was due to a larger decrease in the birth rate than in the death rate. [Rates for infant deaths are deaths under 1 year per 1,000 live births; fertility rates are live births per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years; all other rates are per 1,000 total population. Data are subject to monthly reporting variation; see Technical notes]