Volume 37 - Article 1 | Pages 1–12  

Fertility change in the American Indian and Alaska Native population, 1980–2010

By Sarah Cannon, Christine Percheski

Abstract

Background: Since 1990, Vital Statistics reports show a dramatic decline in the total fertility rates (TFRs) of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) women in the United States.

Objective: We study whether the decrease in TFRs is due to a real change in fertility for a stable population; a compositional change in who identifies as AI/AN; or a methodological issue stemming from differences in identifying race across the data systems used to calculate fertility rates.

Methods: We use data from the decennial US Census to study change in AI/AN fertility from 1980–2010.

Results: We find declining TFRs when fertility is calculated within a single data system. Additionally, although TFRs are relatively stable within the subgroups of married and unmarried AI/AN women, the proportion of AI/AN women who are married has declined across birth cohorts.

Conclusions: The decrease in TFRs for AI/AN women is a real change in fertility patterns and is not due to differences in racial identification across data systems.

Contribution: We update knowledge of AI/AN fertility to include the decline in TFRs between 1980 and 2010.

Author’s Affiliation

• Sarah Cannon - Gibson Consulting Group, United States of America EMAIL
• Christine Percheski - Northwestern University, United States of America EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Economic resources and parity among US women: A conjoint experiment on preferred family scenarios
Volume 54 - Article 34

Age-heterogamous partnerships: Prevalence and partner differences by marital status and gender composition
Volume 50 - Article 23

Similar articles in Demographic Research

Educational differences in fertility recuperation: The role of partnership trajectories in Spain
Volume 54 - Article 38    | Keywords: births, fertility, partnership trajectories, recuperation, recuperation of births, Spain

Economic resources and parity among US women: A conjoint experiment on preferred family scenarios
Volume 54 - Article 34    | Keywords: conjoint analysis, economic resources, experiments, family, fertility

Partnership life courses and completed fertility in Spain
Volume 54 - Article 29    | Keywords: feature selection, fertility, life course, partnership trajectories, Spain

Spatial perspective on environmental migration: Empirical insights from a spatiotemporal approach in the United States, 1970–2010
Volume 54 - Article 27    | Keywords: environmental migration, migration, net migration rate, rural-urban inequality, spatial analysis, United States of America

Harmonised fertility histories in four British longitudinal cohort studies
Volume 54 - Article 18    | Keywords: cohort studies, fertility, harmonised data, United Kingdom