Ads by Google Ads by Google

Only 412 people added to population via natural growth — births vs deaths

STATISICAL YEARBOOK FRONT COVER
2020 Statistical Yearbook now available at Commerce Dept website
reporters@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — “Births continued to decline while deaths continued to climb,” according to a summary of data in the 2020 Statistical Yearbook compiled by the Commerce Department’s Statistics & Analysis Division, and released yesterday.

Summarized under the sub-heading, ‘Vital and Health Statistics’, the yearbook pointed out that LBJ Tropical Medical Center reported 739 births and 322 deaths in 2020.

Additionally, the Crude Birth Rates per 1,000 live births dropped from about ten years ago to 12.7, while the Crude Death Rate per 1,000 deaths moved upward to 5.6. The past Infant Mortality Rate of 6.2, Neonatal Mortality Rate of 18.6, and Fetal Death Rate of 21.7 per 1,000 live births all went up in 2020.

“Births have dropped from around 1,300 ten years ago to only 734 in 2020,” the yearbook states, adding that teenagers giving birth — ages 19 years and below — made up about 9.5% of total births in 2020.

“Population natural growth is defined as total births minus deaths. The natural growth of the population in 2020 was 412. Only 412 people were added to the resident population in 2020 due to natural growth,” according to the yearbook summary.

It also states that the leading causes of death in 2020 were Heart Disease, Malignant Neoplasm, Influenza/ Pneumonia, Hypertension, and Cerebrovascular in that order.

Communicable diseases have dropped from about 5,100 in 2019 to 3,900 in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. There was also a big drop in Influenza/ Flu cases reported in 2020, according to the statistical yearbook.

The number of out-patient visits in 2020 was 120,716; another increase of about 4% from the previous year. The ASG Vital Statistics Office reported 214 marriage licenses issued in 2020, an increase of 23% from 2019.

The yearbook provides specific data on births, deaths, life expectancy, marriages, diseases, patient visits and hospital discharges between 2010 and 2020.

The 2020 Statistical Yearbook is the 38th edition of this annual publication and provides statistics and trends of demographic, social, and economic characteristics of the Territory from censuses, surveys, and administrative records.

In releasing the latest edition of the annual yearbook, Commerce Department director Petti Matila said in a statement that she hopes the data on population, health, education, law enforcement, climate, land use, migration, trade, government finances, prices, employment, agriculture, utilities, and national accounts, promote and perpetuate interest in the pursuit of happiness and wellbeing of the people of American Samoa.

She also says that the collection and analysis of raw data summarized in the Statistical Yearbook would be impossible without the cooperation of many local and federal government agencies, private businesses, and individuals.

“I hope this publication is helpful and informative for good governance, sound decision-making, and evidence-based planning,” she said and looks forward to “any valuable input submitted for improving the quality and contents of the yearbook”.

The 2020 Statistical Yearbook will be available electronically on the DOC website: http// doc.as.gov. Alternatively, those who wish to request a copy may call the Statistics and Analysis Division at 633-0120 or email at americansamoastatistics@doc.as.gov.

A comment form is provided at the end of the yearbook for suggestions for submission to DOC.

Samoa News will report in future editions on other data cited in the yearbook.