Vital Statistics

Living longer and better

Births and marriages are up. Deaths and divorces are down. Life expectancy is higher than ever. That was the cheery news last week from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in its annual report on U.S. population trends.

Life expectancy in 1982, according to the study's provisional figures, rose to an estimated 74.5 years for the total population, up from 70.8 in 1970. Each race and sex group also registered record highs, although the life expectancy of blacks still lagged behind that of the rest of the population. White females born in 1982 could expect to live 78.7 years, longer than any other group; black females had a life expectancy of 73.8 years. White males followed with 71.4 years; black males trailed with 64.8 years.

There were 1.7 million more births than deaths in 1982, what demographers call "a natural increase." The U.S. recorded the largest number of births (3.7 million) since 1970 and the highest birth rate (16 per 1,000 people) since 1971. Deaths (2 million) dropped slightly below the 1981 level, possibly because there were no serious influenza outbreaks in 1982. The 1982 infant mortality rate (11.2 per 1,000 live births) was the lowest ever recorded in the nation. Infants are doing better, says NCHS Demographer Kate Prager, because of the "improvement in medical technology in caring for sick newborns."

Heart disease continues to decline but still tops the list of the 15 leading killers, a group that causes 89% of all American deaths. Cancer, at No. 2, is on the upswing as a cause of death. Fatalities from cerebrovascular disease, accidents, motor-vehicle collisions and chronic pulmonary disease are falling. Suicide leaped up the list from No. 10 to No. 8, principally because two ailments once ahead of it, chronic liver disease and atherosclerosis, continued to drop.

Divorce American-style became decidedly less popular than marriage in 1982. The number of divorces (1.2 million) declined by 3%, the first decrease since 1962; the divorce rate (5.1 per 1,000 people) showed a 4% drop from 1981. The divorce rate last year ranged from a low 3.2 per 1,000 in Pennsylvania to a high 13.9 per 1,000 in Nevada and 8.3 in Alaska. Marriages (2.5 million) boomed for the seventh straight year and reached the highest rate (10.8 per 1,000) since 1973. The sharpest rises, 5% and 6% respectively, occurred in the Middle Atlantic states and New England. The dip in the divorce rate may be partly the result of a new trend revealed in another Government study: the postponement of marriage by those in the 20-to-24 age group. "There is a lot of evidence," says NCHS Demographer Barbara Wilson, "that early marriages are less stable." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.