Civil Registration and Vital Statistics: A Unique Source of Data for Policy

Abstract

AbouZahr, Mathenge, Sejersen and Macfarlane introduce the civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system, the routine administrative system that officially registers, certifies, aggregates and reports key events in the lives of individuals-notably births, deaths, marriages, divorces and adoptions. They explain that CRVS generates legal evidence of a person’s existence with name, family relations and civil status, and provides key demographic and health indicators including rates of fertility, mortality and population growth for all administrative areas of a country. The authors describe how a CRVS system functions and emphasize that CRVS is the most effective and efficient source of national and sub-national population data for policymaking for all sectors but particularly for public health. They point out that many low-and middle-income countries require additional financial and technical support to maintain fully functioning CRVS systems.