Japan | Get Every One in the Picture

COUNTRY PROFILE
GOALS
Goal 1
Goal 2
Goal 3
Implementation steps
Events
News
Resources

Japan

Japan’s civil registration system is founded on the 1872 Family Registration Law. The family registration system (koseki) works alongside the resident registration system (jūminhyō). The former describes the family relations, and events such as births, deaths or marriage, when the latter includes more personal details. All events or change in details have to be notified by residents to their municipality. Municipalities then fill vital statistics reports, which are progressively aggregated up to the national level, where detailed reports are regularly published by the Statistics Bureau of Japan.

CRVS Focal Point:

Japan

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

Goal 1 Targets:

1.A

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

1.B

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

1.C

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

1.D

By 2024, at least … 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 ... 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 … 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 … 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 ...per cent of deaths occurring in health facilities or with the attention of a medical practitioner havean underlying cause of death code derived from the medical certificate according to the standards defined by ICD.

3.D

By 2024, the proportion of deaths coded to ill-defined codes will have been reduced to … 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 … per cent of births in the territory and jurisdiction in the given year are registered.

BASELINE

2014

100%

MIDTERM

2017

99%

1.B

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

MIDTERM

2000

100%

1.C

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

baseline

2014

100%

MIDTERM

2018

100%

1.D

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

baseline

2014

99%

MIDTERM

2017

99%

1.E

baseline

2014

100%

MIDTERM

2017

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

100%

MIDTERM

2017

100%

2.B

baseline

2013

100%

MIDTERM

2017

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.

TARGET

Target achieved

3.D

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

baseline

2013

0.9%

MIDTERM

2017

1.2%

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