Fertility of American women: June 1986.

Statistics on the childbearing experience and birth expectations of American women contained in this report are based on data collected in the June 1986 supplement to the Current Population Survey. A series of questions on this supplement also asked about the respondent's place of birth and citizenship status. Estimates of current levels of childbearing and birth expectations for foreign-born women are shown in this report along with data on the fertility of foreign born women previously collected in the April 1983 Current Population Survey. Highlights of the data follow. 1) The fertility rate for the 12 months ending in June 1986 was an estimated 70.3 births/1000 women 18-44; 3.6 million women in this age group had experienced a birth in this period. 2) Among women who had a child in the year preceding the June 1986 survey, 50% were in the labor force as compared with 31% a decade earlier. Labor force participation rates for women with newborns were higher for women with 4 or more years of college (59%) than among women who completed less than 12 years of school (32%). 3) The fertility rate for women 30-34 in 1986 was 78.9/1000, the only age groups showing an increase over the 1985 rate (69.9/1000). Hispanic women in 1986 had an estimated fertility rate of 105.6 births/1000 women 18-44, significantly higher than the 67.3 fertility rate for non-hispanic women. The overall fertility rate for black women (78.4/1000) was higher than for white women (68.2/1000), but this pattern was not consistent for all age groups. Black women 18-24 had a considerably higher fertility rate than their white counterparts though there was no significant difference between the 2 races for women 25-29 and 30-44. 4) Women 18-34 in 1986 expected to have an average of 2.1 children: about 9% expected to be childless. 5) The fertility rates for foreign-born women 18-44 increased from 82.9 births in 1983 to 98.9 births/1000 women in 1986. The fertility rate for native-born women in 1986 was 67.5 births/1000 women 18-44. Foreign-born women 40-44 in 1986 completed their fertility with about 2.4 children each, about the same as native-born women. The average number of births expected by foreign-born women was 2.3/woman 18-34, about .2 births higher than the average reported by native-born women of the same age.