Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Vital statistics released

Arkansas' Vital Statistics for 1999 have finally been released.

These statistics are gathered on births, fetal deaths, abortions, deaths, marriages and divorces.

The population of Arkansas in 1999 was approximately 2,551,373 people.

Of this population 36,670 Arkansans' gave birth in that year. Two hundred and seventy two of those births were in Clark County. Two hundred and twelve births were white, 57 were black and three were unknown.

More than 12,000 births in Arkansas were to unwed mothers.

Fetal deaths were high in 1999 with 254 deaths during the Perinatal Period. However, the fetal death rate was still higher for blacks than for whites, who increased from 5.0 in 1998 to 5.9 in 1999.

Clark County had two reported fetal deaths.

Infant mortalities were high in 1999 also. Three hundred and eleven infants died this year. Approximately 60 percent of the 311 Arkansans who died before their first birthday were less than 28 days old.

Clark County had four infant deaths in 1999.

The largest number of birth defects reported on birth certificates was heart malformations, cleft lip and down syndrome.

Arkansas had a staggering amount of induced terminations of pregnancy (abortion). Almost 6,000 abortions were performed on Arkansas residents.

Of the abortions, 590 were given to women age 19 and under, 43 of the abortions were on women age 14 years or younger. The youngest being 11-years-old.

The number of residential deaths was 27,934. Heart disease was found to be the number one killer of Arkansans. Cancer was the number two killer and stroke was the third.

Clark County's number one killer was heart attacks and stroke taking up 153 deaths. Lung cancer was the second leading cause of death. Ten Clark County deaths were from motor vehicle accidents and only one homicide.

Almost 42,000 marriages were performed in Arkansas in 1999. Of those marriages the average age for an Arkansas woman is 27. The average age for a man is 29.

The oldest bride and groom recorded for 1999 were both 97-years-old.

There was one marriage with a 57 year age difference between the bride and the groom.

Almost 17,000 divorces occurred in Arkansas for 1999.

In 1950 there were almost 8,000 divorces in Arkansas.