As part of the Identification for Development (ID4D) Initiative, the World Bank Group addresses technical aspects of civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) in four recent publications.
 

This information note, developed by ESCAP with support from the Regional Steering Group for CRVS in Asia and the Pacific and other partners, highlights the connection between civil registration and voter registration.

This paper was published in 2007 as a part of the “The Who Counts?” Series of The Lancet. The authors Mahapatra et. al review the present situation and past trends of vital statistics in the world.

The meeting of the 4th National Steering and Coordination Committee Meeting on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) was held on January 17, 2018 in Islamabad.

This study examines factors related to birth registration among Western Australian children born to Aboriginal mothers. Unregistered births were most strongly associated with young maternal age at first birth, remoteness, mothers whose own birth was unregistered, and no private hospital insurance.

This brochure highlights the need for further research in the area of CRVS and outlines issues and challenges that research can address. In addition, it gives an overview of current research activities related to CRVS.

Articles

Civil registration is integral to the Indonesian government’s current poverty-reduction strategy, both for its ability to confer legal identity to citizens and as the principal source of the country’s vital statistics. Unfortunately, ownership of key civil registration documents, such as birth certificates and death certificates, remains exceptionally low, and governments are often unable to access timely, reliable, and comprehensive vital statistics.

The Births and Deaths Statistics Report contains information on the births and deaths occurring in Timor-Leste in 2014-2015. In addition to these vital statistics, the report also contains an overview of Timor-Leste's CRVS system, coordination efforts between different government ministries, legal issues regarding CRVS, a comparison of the Ministry of Health's registration information with the General Directorate of Statistics' information, as well as recommendations for improvement.

Presentation given by Mongolia to the Sub-regional Asian workshop on applying principles and recommendations for implementing the Regional Action Framework for strengthening CRVS, Istanbul, Turkey, 15 -18 September 2015. 

Presentation by the Istanbul Regional Office to the Sub-regional Asian workshop on applying principles and recommendations for implementing the Regional Action Framework for strengthening CRVS, Istanbul, Turkey, 15 -18 September 2015. 

Presentation by Davaadorj Radnaised, Vice Chairman, General Department of State Registration, Mongolia to the Sub-regional Asian workshop on applying principles and recommendations for implementing the Regional Action Framework for strengthening CRVS, Istanbul, Turkey, 15 -18 September 2015. 

Establishes the Family Relations Register, issues individual certificates such as Basic Certificate, Marriage Certificate, and Family Certificate.

This report focuses on the situation and the improvements necessary to create a population registration system in the Kyrgyz Republic, along with recommendations for the SRS to assist it in its implementation.

The material was presented by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) at the First Government Forum on Electronic Identity in Africa, organized in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania on 2-4 June 2015.

In this Series paper, the authors examine whether well functioning civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems are associated with improved population health outcomes. They present a conceptual model connecting CRVS to wellbeing, and describe an ecological association between CRVS and health outcomes. The conceptual model posits that the legal identity that civil registration provides to individuals is key to access entitlements and services. Vital statistics produced by CRVS systems provide essential information for public health policy and prevention.

This document was the meeting document of the First session, Committee on Statistics, organized in Bangkok from 15 to 17 December 2008.

It was contributed by Dr. Yawarat Porapakkham, Dr. Melanie Bertram SPICE project, Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Pramote Prasartkul, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, Dr. Lene Mikkelsen, Health Metrics Network and Dr. Alan D. Lopez, School of Population Health, The University of Queensland.

Articles

The Asia-Pacific Region has the highest risk of exposure to natural hazards in the world. Seven out of the ten deadliest disasters worldwide since 1980 occurred in Asia. In order to abate the impacts of these disasters, disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) policies, programs and activities have been adopted by countries in the region to enable them to continue to develop sustainably amidst the inevitable occurrences of natural hazards.

Plan International Australia proposes developing a standards-based software solution to provide for civil registration and population data needs in low resource settings. The open source CRVS platform will be free, fully compliant, and adaptable for different country contexts in Asia and the Pacific. The software will be easy to deploy, user-centric, and require minimal skills for customisation, maintenance and support.

Australian National University's presentation made at the Expert Group Meeting on "Methodology and lessons learned to evaluate the completeness and quality of vital statistics data from civil registration“, New York, 3‐4 November 2016.

A global meeting on civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) took place in Addis Ababa from 28-29 April 2014, co-hosted by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank Group, and sponsored by the Government of Canada Department for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD).

A global meeting on civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) took place in Addis Ababa from 28-29 April 2014, co-hosted by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank Group, and sponsored by the Government of Canada Department for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD).

WHO, in collaboration with Canada, UNICEF, USAID and the World Bank, organized a technical meeting in Geneva from 17 to 18 December 2013 to share experiences and explore the potential of health sector innovation for strengthening CRVS systems. This paper describes key areas in which health innovations can contribute to CRVS systems strengthening and lays out good practices against which health sector activities should be assessed.

This document has been developed through a consultative process involving country representatives from the health, civil registration and statistics sectors, technical experts, researchers, and representatives of agencies, donors and development partners. As part of this process, a technical meeting, Improving Mortality Statistics as part of Strengthening Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, World Health Organization, Technical Meeting, was convened by WHO from 4 to 5 November 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Articles

Accurate cause of death (COD) information is fundamental to good public health practice. The principal sources of information are medical certificates of COD for deaths in hospitals and verbal autopsies for non-hospital deaths. A verbal autopsy (VA) is a process whereby relatives of the deceased respond to questions about the medical history and terminal illness of the decedent (i.e. the illness that led directly to death). These two sources of COD data are complementary.

Six interventions have been developed in the Solomon Islands to advance system performance by focusing on unmet objectives from the National CRVS Improvement Plan. These interventions will help advance a system that operates according to international best practice.

In line with their strong commitment to improving civil registration and vital statistics, the Philippines has identified six interventions to improve system performance, with a focus on improving mortality statistics and strengthening staff capacity.

Enterprise architecture (EA) is a systems science tool that produces business process maps. It helps describe, understand, analyse, compare and visualise the organisation, processes, workflows and functionality of a CRVS system. As part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health (D4H) Initiative and in close collaboration with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), training on business process mapping will be offered to all D4H countries as a fundamental intervention.

In May 2015, members and associate members of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific endorsed the Ministerial Declaration to “Get Every One in the Picture” in Asia and the Pacific and the Regional Action Framework on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific, and declared the Asian and Pacific Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Decade, 2015-2024.

The handbook is a useful reference for practicing statisticians in the national statistics offices, and those working in the education, health, and vital registration agencies in developing countries. The discussions on strengths and weaknesses of different data sources have been carried out skillfully, citing country examples on the use of administrative data for compiling the Millennium Development Goals indicators and other relevant statistics.

This material was presented during the Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics 24 – 28 November 2014

This material was presented at the This material was presented at the Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics 24 – 28 November 2014, by Mr. Seree Nonthasoot, Thailand’s Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights

This material was presented at the This material was presented at the Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics 24 – 28 November 2014, by Jonas and Carolin of the Youth Advisory Board of Plan International Germany and Sascha Raabe, MP, with Kamanda, Carolin and Tim from Plan.

This material was presented at the Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics 24 – 28 November 2014, by Mr. Mark Landry, Coordinator, Health Intelligence and Innovation Division of Health Systems, WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific

The CSO issued this joint statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

Viet Nam issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

Timor-Leste issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

Tajikistan issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

The Republic of Korea issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

Pakistan issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

Nepal issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

Myanmar issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

Marshall Islands issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

Malaysia issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

Kiribati issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

Iran issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

India issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

The Cook Islands issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

Cambodia issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

Bangladesh issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

Armenia issued this statement in the Ministerial Conference agenda item 6 regarding the State of civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific and overview of supporting initiatives (E/ESCAP/MCCRVS/2). Under this agenda item, ministers and heads of delegations were invited to deliver short statements to highlight policy priorities and Challenges for the “CRVS Decade, 2015-2024”, as well as their expectations and goals in regards to the regional collaboration to improve civil registration and vital statistics.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

Country statement delivered during the Ministerial Conference under agenda item 6.

This is a non-official document, for information only, prepared by the Working group of co-organizers of the Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific to be held in Bangkok, 24 November to 28 November 2014. It provides additional background information to delegations attending the Regional Preparatory Meeting for the Ministerial Conference on 28 and 29 August 2014.

Review of the state of civil registration and vital statistics systems in Asia and the Pacific

This document provides guidance on identifying and mitigating risks associated with digital birth registration for implementing government agencies and their partners operating in low- and middle-income countries. It expands on the model of DBR developed by Plan International as part of its Count Every Child initiative and within the context of strengthening civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems more broadly. The tool provides: checklists of likely risk factors, example risk mitigation mechanisms for each, and prompts to develop context-based responses.