# 1980 Census of Population. Vol. 1. Characteristics of the Population. Ch. C/D

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/1980-census-of-population-vol-1-characteristics-of-the-population-ch-c-d/6965>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [February 18, 2026, 7:00pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/1980-census-of-population-vol-1-characteristics-of-the-population-ch-c-d/6965 "2026-02-18T19:00:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Emma\_Lonstrup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a587f6/32.png) [@Emma\_Lonstrup](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Emma_Lonstrup)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 7:00pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/1980-census-of-population-vol-1-characteristics-of-the-population-ch-c-d/6965/1 "2026-02-18T19:00:28Z")

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I am trying to download the “1980 Census of Population. Vol. 1. Characteristics of the Population. Ch. C/D. Detailed Social and Economic Characteristics” pdfs as I need the children ever born data by state, but they don’t seem to be available from the dropdown menu? Can anyone point me in the correct direction to get these data please?

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**Author:** ![Ivan\_Strahof](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.ipums.org/ivan_strahof/32/626_2.png) [@Ivan\_Strahof](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Ivan_Strahof)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2026, 7:42pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/1980-census-of-population-vol-1-characteristics-of-the-population-ch-c-d/6965/2 "2026-02-19T19:42:31Z")

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[IPUMS NHGIS](https://www.nhgis.org/) provides digitized summary data tables from the 1980 decennial census, including the data on children ever born by state. You will need to use the [Data Finder tool](https://data2.nhgis.org/main) to filter for the correct table. In the screenshot below, I’ve filtered _Years_ to 1980 and _Topics_ to Births and Fertility. Table NTPA21 reports the number of women ages 15-44 by each number of children ever born (eight total groups ranging from none to seven or more). After adding the table to your data cart (click the green plus next to it), you can navigate to your data cart (hit continue on the upper-right) to select the geographic level that you want the data summarized to. In addition to summarizing counts by state, you can also choose to summarize data by county, county subdivision, place, standard metropolitan statistical area, and urban area. IPUMS NHGIS offers [a user guide](https://www.nhgis.org/user-guide) with short video tutorials as well as more in-depth resources to help you get started.

 ![IPUMS NHGIS Data Finder Filtering Year to 1980 and Topics to Births and Fertility](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/ipums/original/2X/7/700d2c18f973c52ca909f9be774fc3ada072cc20.png)