Republic of Korea | Get Every One in the Picture

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Goal 1
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Republic of Korea

The civil registration system in the Republic of Korea is divided in two parts: The Family Relationship Registration (FRR) and the Resident Registration (RR). The former is the oldest system, and registers family ties. The latter has been introduced more recently and keeps track of all individual events. The Supreme Court and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) respectively assume FRR and RR. The vital statistics system, which relies mostly on data from RR, is the responsibility of Statistics Korea (KOSTAT). Registration takes place in 226 city, county, and district offices (Si/Gun/Gu), and at 3,560 community service centers (Eup/Myeon/Dong). In 2004, Statistics Korea established a link amongst the family registration systems to produce vital statistics. Individual vital events are extracted from the family registries and then put in a single file. Then, the file is uploaded to the vital events system by each local administrative official. With the central database, Statistics Korea complies and edits the data to analyze and produce vital statistics. In addition to the civil registrations, Statistics Korea also incorporates other data such as death of infants from the hospitals, crematory data, police data from National Police Agency as well as data from health institutions to increase the accuracy of vital statistics and is planning to increase the use of administrative data to produce statistics on cause of death

The time limit for birth and death registration is 30 days and registration must be completed by relatives. An exception has been implemented, in the case of death caused by disasters, etc. and the death of a person with no relatives or interested persons ex officio, to give the Head of Si/Eup/Myeon the power to register the death.

CRVS Focal Point:

Mr. Youngil Lim, Director, Vital Statistics Division, Statistics Korea

RSG Member:

Mr. Youngil Lim, Director, Vital Statistics Division, Statistics Korea

Republic of Korea

Goal 1. Universal civil registration of births, deaths and other vital events

Goal 1 Targets:

1.A

By 2024, at least 100 per cent of births in the territory and jurisdiction in the given year are registered.

1.B

By 2024, at least 100 per cent of children under 5 years old in the territory and jurisdiction have had their birth registered.

1.C

By 2024, at least 100 per cent of all individuals in the territory and jurisdiction have had their birth registered.

1.D

By 2024, at least 100 per cent of all deaths that take place in the territory and jurisdiction in the given year are registered.

1.E

By 2024, at least 100 per cent of all deaths recorded by the health sector in the territory and jurisdiction in the given year have a medically certified cause of death recorded using the international form of the death certificate.

Goal 2. All individuals are provided with legal documentation of civil registration of births, deaths and other vital events, as necessary, to claim identity, civil status and ensuing rights

Goal 2 Targets:

2.A

By 2024, at least 100 per cent of all births registered in the territory and jurisdiction are accompanied with the issuance of an official birth certificate that includes, as a minimum, the individual’s name, sex, date and place of birth, and name of parent(s) where known.

2.B

By 2024, at least 100 per cent of all deaths registered in the territory and jurisdiction in the given year are accompanied with the issuance of an official death certificate which includes, as a minimum, the deceased’s name, date of death, sex, and age.

Goal 3. Accurate, complete and timely vital statistics (including on causes of death) are produced based on registration records and are disseminated

Goal 3 Targets:

3.A

By...(year), annual nationally representative statistics on births – disaggregated by age of mother, sex of child, geographic area and administrative subdivision –are produced from registration records or other valid administrative data sources.

3.B

By ...(year), annual nationally representative statistics on deaths – disaggregated by age, sex, cause of death defined by ICD, geographic area and administrative subdivision – are produced from registration records or other valid administrative data sources.

3.C

By 2024, at least 100 per cent of deaths occurring in health facilities or with the attention of a medical practitioner have an underlying cause of death code derived from the medical certificate according to the standards defined by ICD (latest version as appropriate)

3.D

By 2024, the proportion of deaths coded to ill-defined codes will have been reduced to 7 per cent.

3.E

By 2024, at least … per cent of deaths taking place outside of a health facility and without the attention of a medical practitioner have their underlying cause of death code determined through verbal autopsy in line with international standards.

3.F

By … (year), key summary tabulations of vital statistics on births and deaths using registration records as the primary source, are made available in the public domain in electronic format annually, and within one calendar year.

3.G

By … (year), key summary tabulations of vital statistics on causes of death using registration records as the primary source, are made available in the public domain in electronic format annually, and within two calendar years.

3.H

By … (year), an accurate, complete and timely vital statistics report for the previous two years, using registration records as the primary source, is made available in the public domain.

Goal 1. Universal civil registration of births, deaths and other vital events

Goal 1 is an expression of the internationally accepted principle of the universal coverage of civil registration. The CRVS system should register all vital events occurring in the territory and jurisdiction of the country or area, including among hard-to-reach and marginalized populations.

National Targets:

1.A

By 2024, at least 100 per cent of births in the territory and jurisdiction in the given year are registered.

BASELINE

2014

100%

MIDTERM

2018

100%

TARGET

2024

100%

1.B

By 2024, at least 100 per cent of children under 5 years old in the territory and jurisdiction have had their birth registered.

Note: These figures are from an administrative source, and not from surveys like for most countries.

baseline

2013

99.7%

MIDTERM

2018

97.2%

TARGET

2024

100%

1.C

By 2024, at least 100 per cent of all individuals in the territory and jurisdiction have had their birth registered.

baseline

2013

100%

MIDTERM

2018

100%

TARGET

2024

100%

1.D

By 2024, at least 100 per cent of all deaths that take place in the territory and jurisdiction in the given year are registered.

baseline

2014

100%

MIDTERM

2018

100%

TARGET

2024

100%

1.E

baseline

2014

99.1%

MIDTERM

2018

99.7%

TARGET

2024

100%

Goal 2. All individuals are provided with legal documentation of civil registration of births, deaths and other vital events, as necessary, to claim identity, civil status and ensuing rights

Goal 2 reflects that CRVS systems provide legal documentation of civil registration to individuals and families for legal and administrative purposes. Legal documentation is strongly linked with a broad range of rights and activities, in particular legal identity. This goal addresses the distinction between the civil registration of a vital event and the possession of formal proof that it took place, in the form of legal documentation.

National Targets:

2.A

baseline

2013

98.7%

MIDTERM

2018

99.5%

TARGET

2024

100%

2.B

baseline

2013

98.8%

MIDTERM

2018

99.7%

TARGET

2024

100%

Goal 3. Accurate, complete and timely vital statistics (including on causes of death) are produced based on registration records and are disseminated

Goal 3 highlights the critical importance of civil registration being linked to the production and quality assurance of vital statistics on the occurrence and characteristics of vital events.

National Targets:

3.A

TARGET

Target achieved

3.B

TARGET

Target achieved

3.C

Note: This target was not monitored as part of the Midterm Questionnaire on the Implementation of the Regional Action Framework for CRVS in Asia and the Pacific.

baseline

2014

99.1%

TARGET

2024

100%

3.D

By 2024, the proportion of deaths coded to ill-defined codes will have been reduced to 7 per cent.

baseline

2013

10.6%

MIDTERM

2018

11.3%

TARGET

2024

7%

3.E

Note: In light of recent countries’ experiences, Verbal autopsy is not encouraged to be applied to a large population scale, but rather on a representative sample. To reflect this, Target 3E is not anymore monitored by the coverage percentage of Verbal autopsy, but by the use or not of Verbal autopsy and its different applications.

MIDTERM

No

3.F

TARGET

Target achieved

3.G

TARGET

Target achieved

3.H

By … (year), an accurate, complete and timely vital statistics report for the previous two years, using registration records as the primary source, is made available in the public domain.

TARGET