Civil registration in Cambodia is the responsibility of the General Department of Identification within the Ministry of Interior. Registration of all vital events is free and birth registration, in particular, must be performed within 30 days while death and marriage registrations must occur within 15 days. Birth, marriage and death certificates are generally issued within 3 days of registration. Cambodia's birth registration system is still paper-based and the 1,646 commune (sangkat) offices act as registration points, with Commune Chiefs serving as local registrars for vital events.
Hospitals issue death notification forms with less frequency than birth notification forms, and deaths must be registered in the commune of the deceased's permanent residence. Deaths occurring in health facilities are sometimes issued a medical certificate with cause of death information, but this certificate does not meet international standards and is not linked to the CRVS system.
Instead, doctors will enter cause of death information into their facility's ward register book. This information is then coded (not according to the ICD-10 system), used to prepare a monthly report, and entered into the online Health Management Information System used by more than 1,000 public health facilities. Health facilities are not obligated to report vital events and few private facilities report data to either the General Department of Identification or the Ministry of Health. Verbal autopsy is not presently being used in Cambodia.
Cambodia does not currently produce vital statistics reports based on civil registration data, however, some data on registration of vital events is available on the General Department of Identification website.
Mr. Sok Chamroeun, Deputy Director General of General Department of Identification
Goal 1. Universal civil registration of births, deaths and other vital events |
Goal 1 Targets:
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:
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:
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:
Note: This country has not submitted estimates for the number of births for all years. The level of completeness of birth registration was therefore assessed with international estimates for every year, to allow comparison. These measurements are therefore to be interpreted with caution.
BASELINE
201440%
MIDTERM
201866%
TARGET
202490%
MIDTERM
201473.3%
TARGET
202490%
TARGET
202490%
Note: This country has not submitted estimates for the number of deaths for all years. The level of completeness of death registration was therefore assessed with international estimates for every year, to allow comparison. These measurements are therefore to be interpreted with caution.
baseline
201424%
MIDTERM
201836%
TARGET
202430%
baseline
201556.2%
MIDTERM
201872%
TARGET
202430%
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:
baseline
2018100%
TARGET
202490%
baseline
2014100%
MIDTERM
2018100%
TARGET
202490%
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:
TARGET
2023
TARGET
2023
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.
TARGET
202430%
baseline
201543.8%
MIDTERM
201828%
TARGET
202430%
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
TARGET
2024Yes
TARGET
2024
TARGET
2023
TARGET
2023
National Coordination Mechanism
Status in Cambodia: Complete
Comprehensive Assessment
Status in Cambodia: Complete
National Targets for 2024
Status in Cambodia: Complete
Monitoring & Reporting Plan
Status in Cambodia: Plans
Inequality Assessment
Status in Cambodia: Not started
National Strategy
Status in Cambodia: Complete
National Focal Point
Status in Cambodia: Complete
Reporting to ESCAP - Baseline
Status in Cambodia: Complete
Reporting to ESCAP - Midterm
Status in Cambodia: Complete