Estimates of the Fertility of the Population of Hispanic Origin: Age-Parity-Progression Patterns, 1980-1999

Ward Kingkade, U.S. Census Bureau

Analysis of longterm tendencies in the contribution of the Hispanic-Origin population to overall US fertility levels has been handicapped by constraints on data availability. It was not until 1993 that all States had included an item identifying Hispanic origin on their birth certificates. There has been no question on children ever born on any census taken during the period 1980-2000. These data constraints call for indirect estimation to fill out the complete historical series. The proposed paper shall present 1980-1999 time series of detailed schedules of fertility intensities by single-year ages and parity, as well as summary measures of overall fertility levels, for three broad Race/Origin categories: Hispanics, Black Non-Hispanics, and all other Non-Hispanics. The respective series will be analyzed to provide an assessment of the overall contribution of the population of Hispanic Origin to recent US fertility dynamics at the national level.