In 1987, the National Center for Health Statisticsﾠ(NCHS) became an organizational component of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). NCHS was formed in 1960 when the Public Health Service merged its National Office of Vital Statistics with the National Health Survey.

The National Office of Vital Statistics, which collected data on births, deaths, marriages, and divorces, had been transferred from the U.S. Bureau of the Census to the Public Health Service in 1946. The National Health Survey had been established in 1956 as a source of information on illness and disability in the U.S.