Record Number of U.S. Deaths Offset by Most Births Since ’64

A record number of Americans died last year, but births also soared to the highest total in more than two decades, new government figures showed Friday.

The preliminary count of deaths for 1987 “totaled 2,127,000, or about 28,000 more than in the previous year and the largest number ever reported for the United States,” the annual data summary of the National Center for Health Statistics said.

Despite this increase, the death rate was unchanged from the year before, at 8.7 deaths per 1,000 people, because deaths increased at about the same rate as the overall population growth, the report said.

Births Climb 3%

Births, after dipping somewhat in 1986, were on the rise again last year, climbing by 3% to an estimated 3,829,000.

“The 1987 provisional total is the largest number reported since 1964,” the report said. The fertility rate was 66.1 live births per 1,000 women aged 15-44, up from 64.9 in 1986.

The increase in births is a result of the increase in fertility combined with about a 1% increase in the number of women in the prime child-bearing years, it said.

Subtracting deaths from births, the study reported a natural increase in the U.S. population of 1,702,000 last year, 3% more than in 1986.

Cancer Deaths Rise

Looking at reported causes of death, the study found a decline in heart disease fatalities but an increase in cancer deaths between 1986 and 1987.

The study also found that just slightly more than twice as many couples married as were divorced during the year.

Marriages totaled 2,421,000 last year, 1% more than in 1986. That represented a marriage rate of 9.9 per 1,000 population, which was 1% less than the year before.

Meanwhile, there were 1,157,000 divorces last year, a 1% decline. The divorce rate was 4.8 per 1,000 people, about the same as in 1986.