Examining sex differences in the completeness of Peruvian CRVS data and adult mortality estimates

Abstract

The production, compilation, and publication of death registration records is complex and usually involves many institutions. Assessing available data and the evolution of the completeness of the data compiled based on demographic techniques and other available data sources is of great importance for countries and for having timely and disaggregated mortality estimates. In this paper, we assess whether it is reasonable, based on the available data, to assume that there is a sex difference in the completeness of male and female death records in Peru in the last 30 years. In addition, we assess how the gap may have evolved with time by applying two-census death distribution methods on health-related registries and analyzing the information from the Demographic and Health Surveys and civil registries. Our findings suggest that there is no significant sex difference in the completeness of male and female health-related registries and, consequently, the sex gap currently observed in adult mortality estimates might be overestimated.