Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Editorial
. 2022;78(1):8.
doi: 10.1186/s41118-022-00156-8. Epub 2022 Feb 23.

Population perspectives and demographic methods to strengthen CRVS systems: introduction

Romesh Silva  1   2
Affiliations
Editorial

Population perspectives and demographic methods to strengthen CRVS systems: introduction

Romesh Silva. Genus. 2022.

Abstract

Civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems and legal identity systems have become increasingly recognized as catalytic both for inclusive development and for monitoring population dynamics spanning the entire life course. Population scientists have a long history of contributing to the strengthening of CRVS and legal identity systems and of using vital registration data to understand population and development dynamics. This paper provides an overview of the Genus thematic series on CRVS systems. The series spans 11 research articles that document new insights on the registration of births, marriages, separations/divorces, deaths and legal residency. This introductory article to the series reviews the importance of population perspectives and demographic methods in strengthening CRVS systems and improving our understanding of population dynamics across the lifecourse. The paper highlights the major contributions from this thematic series and discusses emerging challenges and future research directions on CRVS systems for the population science community.

Keywords: Birth registration; Civil registration; Death registration; Fertility; Legal identity; Marriage registration; Mortality; Nuptiality; Population register; Vital statistics.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Peer-reviewed publications on civil registration and vital statistics in ProQuest and Web of Science databases, 1991–2021. Search criteria used was “civil registration” or “vital statistics”, based on systematic search criteria used in Abouzahr et al. (2015)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Engagement of Genus thematic series papers with different components of civil registration and vital statistics systems and legal identity systems
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Methodological approaches employed by papers in the Genus thematic series on civil registration and vital statistics systems
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. AbouZahr C, Bratschi MW, Cercone E, Mangharam A, de Savigny D, Dincu I, Forsingdal AB, Joos O, Kamal M, Fat DM, Mathenge G, Marinho F, Mitra RG, Montgomery J, Muhwava W, Mwamba R, Mwanza J, Onaka A, Sejersen TB, Tuoane-Nkhasi M, et al. The COVID-19 pandemic: effects on civil registration of births and deaths and on availability and utility of vital events data. American Journal of Public Health. 2021;111(6):1123–1131. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2021.306203. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. AbouZahr C, de Savigny D, Mikkelsen L, Setel PW, Lozano R, Lopez AD. Towards universal civil registration and vital statistics systems: The time is now. The Lancet. 2015;386(10001):1407–1418. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60170-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Adair T, Gamage USH, Mikkelsen L, Joshi R. Are there sex differences in completeness of death registration and quality of cause of death statistics? Results from a global analysis. BMJ Global Health. 2021;6(10):e006660. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006660. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Agrawal, V., Cantor, J. H., Sood, N., & Whaley, C. M. (2021). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and policy responses on excess mortality. NBER Working Papers 28930, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/28930.html
    1. Alter G, Lee JZ, Wang F, Tsuya NO, Bengtsson T. Prudence and pressure: Reproduction and human agency in Europe and Asia, 1700–1900. MIT Press; 2010.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources