Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems - Over View

Civil registration and vital statistics

  Civil registration and vital statistics systems are backbone of modern public administration that are reliable source for data on fertility, mortality and causes of death.

  National and global health policies and development plans are derived from cause specific mortality statistics.

Two thirds of deaths are not counted

  Only in high-income countries 90% of births and deaths are registered but in low and lower-middle-income countries it is very low. It is only 25% in global population.

  In 2008, due to lots of efforts a tremendous progress has been made by South Africa in birth and death registrations coverage with 90%.

  Unfortunately the most populous countries of world, China and India- don’t have full-fledged civil registration system.

  Disparities exist in death registration in different income group countries.

Estimated versus reported number of deaths by country-income group, 2009