Economic Commission for Africa
African Development Bank
ECA/ACS/ASSD/7/2
January 2012
Original: English
Preliminary Report
Results of the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Assessment Study in Africa
7th Africa Symposium on Statistical Development (ASSD)
and
3 Meeting of the Statistical Commission for Africa (StatCom-Africa III)
18-23 January 2012
Cape Town, South Africa
rd
1
Content
I. BACKGROUND ....................................................................................................................................1
1.1
Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1
1.2
Objectives of the Assessment Study............................................................................................ 1
1.3
Structure of the Assessment Questionnaire ............................................................................... 2
1.4
Administering the Assessment Questionnaire ............................................................................ 2
1.5
Response Rates and quality of response ...............................................................................2
1.6
Structure of the Preliminary Report.............................................................................................. 3
II.
STATUS OF CIVIL REGISTRATION AND VITAL STATISTICS SYSTEMS IN AFRICA .................................................3
III.
CIVIL REGISTRATION AND VITAL STATISTICS SERVICES AND THEIR UTILIZATION .......................................... 18
IV. WAY FORWARD ........................................................................................................................... 21
2
I. BACKGROUND
1.1 Introduction
1. The regional workshop on Strengthening Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) systems
held in June 2009 in Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania addressed some of the fundamental bottlenecks
that came in the way of improving CRVS systems in Africa. Lack of a comprehensive assessment
on the status and progress of CRVS systems in member States was identified as one of the
major drawbacks in initiating actions for improvements in the CRVS systems in the region. The
experts’ recommendation for a comprehensive assessment was supported and endorsed by the
1st Conference of African Ministers responsible for Civil Registration that was convened in
August 2010 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Undertaking the regional assessment was taken as the
first priority activity in the regional Medium-term Plan (MTP)1 that was endorsed by the
Ministers in their first conference in Addis Ababa. Accordingly, a regional assessment
questionnaire was developed by the CRVS Secretariat at the Economic Commission for Africa
(ECA) and reviewed by the country experts in January 2011. As per the recommendation of the
experts the draft questionnaire was piloted in few countries and thereafter sent to all member
States.
1.2 Objectives of the Assessment Study
2. The primary objectives of the assessment study are the following:a) To assess the current status of CRVS systems in member States;
b) To create a regional database on the status and progress of CRVS systems in Africa, that
is accessible to all member States;
c) To provide baseline information for monitoring the progress in the implementation of
the MTP;
d) To help countries in developing their own national assessment tools; and
e) To assist in preparing evidence-based reports for the second ministerial conference on
CRVS and other regional meetings on CRVS.
1
Medium-term CRVS regional plan, 2010-2015, Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and African
Development Bank (AfDB).
1
1.3 Structure of the Assessment Questionnaire
3. The purpose of the assessment questionnaire was to collect information on the status of
CRVS systems in member States. The questionnaire sought to assess the present status of
registration of live births, deaths, foetal deaths2, marriages and divorces and the compilation
and dissemination of vital statistics from the registration system. A few questions were also
included on registration of complementary vital events3 and compilation of the statistics. The
questionnaire has four broad sections. Section one deals with civil registration and section two
with vital statistics. Some specific questions on the use of civil registration records and vital
statistics data were included in Section 3. The last section includes few general questions
pertaining to complementary vital events.
1.4 Administering the Assessment Questionnaire
4. The questionnaire was sent to both the national civil registration authorities and National
Statistics Offices (NSO) or their equivalents in all the countries. Although, the civil registration
authorities were to fill in the part pertaining to the civil registration (Sections 1and 3) and the
NSOs the part relating to the Vital Statistics (Section2), they were advised to do so in
consultation with each other and finally submit one filled in combined set for the country to the
secretariat. An instruction manual accompanied the questionnaire to serve as guiding tool. The
manual provided both technical guidelines for each question, including concepts and definitions
and administrative procedures for filling the questionnaire.
1.5 Response Rates and quality of response
5. The questionnaire was sent to the 53 countries4 and completed questionnaires were received
from only 32 countries (60.4 percent) in spite of several requests. Somalia informed the
Secretariat its difficulties in filling the questionnaire. Botswana used earlier version of the
questionnaire and is requested to re-submit and Cape Verde sent handwritten copy and after
communication promised to send electronically. Secretariat will continue its effort in obtaining
2
If a country registers “still birth” instead of “foetal death” then all questions referring to foetal death were replaced
by still birth.
3
Complementary vital events include adoption, annulment, judicial Separation, legitimation and recognition
4
Questionnaire will be sent to South Sudan once the proper institution is identified.
2
completed questionnaires from the remaining countries. Although the general quality of
response has been good, the scrutiny of the submitted questionnaires received so far brought
out a few deficiencies in responses which can be categorized in three groups – non-response,
incomplete and inconsistent responses. The secretariat intends to work with each country
separately to remove these deficiencies before the final report is produced and presented to
the Ministers in September 2012.
1.6 Structure of the Preliminary Report
6. The preliminary report presents the results of few selected data items highlighting the status
of CRVS systems in the continent. The main report of the study will be finalized in the coming
months and will be presented to the preparatory meeting of experts of the second ministerial
conference and then to the Ministers in September 2012.
7. The preliminary report has four sections. Section one provides background information and
section two the results of the study on the status of the legislations; organizational,
management and operational aspects; and coverage and completeness of CRVS systems for
those countries that responded to the questionnaire. Section three presents the services of
CRVS systems and level of utilization of the evidences, documents and statistical information
produced by the systems. Finally, section four presents next steps under the way forward. Vital
statistics in this report refers to data collected through registration method.
II.
STATUS OF CIVIL REGISTRATION AND VITAL STATISTICS SYSTEMS IN AFRICA
8. This section highlights major findings of the study with regard to the status of legal,
organizational, operational and institutional performances of CRVS systems in the continent.
Each of the tables presented in the sections list out the countries in different categories
relevant to the topic depicted in the table.
9. Establishment of civil registration system in a country usually begins with enactment of
legislation. The civil registration legislation should have clear definitions of vital events and
provide for organization, management and operations of civil registration system in the
country. The law should also provide the procedures of monitoring of registration operations
and responsibilities of the different actors. Experience shows that some countries had
3
established some form of system for registration of births, deaths and marriages without
enacting the registration law. Nevertheless, it should be important to recognize that legislation
is the foundation of every civil registration system.
10. Civil registration legislation defines the type of vital events that must be registered
whenever they occur, specifies the time allowed for registration, and designates the informant
and the registrar. The law also outlines the place of registration and the type of information to
be collected. Civil registration legislation sets rules and regulation for the organization and
administrative arrangement of the system. Moreover, the law defines the procedures of
collecting and transmitting vital statistics data to the agency compiling the statistics. The
existence of legislation, although, essential and necessary but not sufficient condition in making
the public to report the occurrence of vital events on timely basis.
11. The Assessment Study has collected information about the existence of civil registration
legislation in the countries. The result reveals that out of the 32 countries that responded to
the questionnaire, 31 have legislation on registration of vital events (Table 1). Ethiopia is the
only country with no civil registration law. The status of existence of civil registration legislation
is not known in the remaining 20 countries as the reports from these countries not retrieved.
Table 1: Existence of civil registration legislation
Countries with civil registration legislation
Countries with no
civil registration
legislation
Countries, report not
received
Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon,
Ethiopia
Central African republic, Egypt, Ghana,
Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho,
Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali,
Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger,
Libya, Namibia, Eritrea,
Botswana, Tanzania, Cape
Verde, Cote d'Ivoire,
Algeria, Angola, Comoros,
Congo, Djibouti, Gabon,
Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles,
Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Togo,
Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Guinea Bissau,
Mauritania, Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC),
Sao Tome, Tchad, Tunisia
4
12. Civil registration laws are expected to have provide for compulsoriness of registration of
vital events. In 23 countries, registration of the four primary vital events (birth, death, marriage
and divorce) is compulsory, while in the remaining countries the compulsoriness varies by vital
events (Table 2).
Table 2: Compulsoriness of registration of vital events in civil registration laws
Compulsorin
Live birth, Foetal
Birth, Death,
Birth,
Live birth,
Live
ess of civil
registration
law
death, Death,
Marriage, Divorce
Marriage, Divorce
Death,
Marriage
Foetal
death,
death
birth,
Death
Countries
with
compulsory
Benin, Egypt,
Liberia, Mauritius,
Nigeria, Seychelles,
Burundi, Burkina
Faso, Central African
Republic, Guinea,
Cameroon,
Morocco,
Senegal,
Ghana,
Zimbabwe
Kenya,
law
Sierra Leone, South
Africa, Swaziland,
Uganda
Equatorial Guinea,
Madagascar,
Mozambique, Niger,
Rwanda, Sudan,
Zambia,
Malawi
Lesotho
Mali
Togo,
Countries
with no
compulsory
law
Ethiopia
13. Legislation on vital statistics needs to be approached from two angles or perspectives. The
collection of vital statistics from civil registration system should be addressed under the civil
registration law, while the compilation, analysis and dissemination of the statistics in the
national statistics act or in the legislation of the relevant ministry or agency mandated for
compiling vital statistics. As discussed above, the civil registration legislation is expected to
include provisions for the collection and transmission of the vital statistics data as part of the
civil registration administration and operation.
14. The legislation on vital statistics should clearly define the concepts and elaborate the
procedures of compilation, processing, tabulation, reporting, presentation and dissemination of
the collected data. It should also specify the coordination arrangement between civil
5
registration and vital statistics organs as the collection of vital statistics depends on the civil
registration system. It also needs to make provisions for the interface with other government
agencies and users of vital statistics data.
15. As indicated above, the civil registration law is expected to state the collection of vital
statistics information and transmission of the data to the compiling office. The study shows that
in 21 out of the 31 countries, the law specifies collection and also transmission of
data/information to the compilation office (Table 3). In nine countries the law does not specify
the collection of vital statistics information.
Table 3: Civil registration laws providing for the collection and transmission
of data/ information
Countries with provision on vital
statistics in their civil registration
Countries with No
provision on vital
law
statistics in their civil
registration law
No response
Benin, Burundi,
Central Africa Republic, Egypt,
Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho,
Burkina Faso,
Equatorial
Cameroon, Madagascar, Guinea,
Malawi, Rwanda
Ethiopia
Liberia, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco,
Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria,
Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa,
Sudan, Togo, Uganda
Seychelles, Swaziland,
Zambia, Zimbabwe
16. National statistics legislations are expected to have a provision on the collection, processing and
dissemination of vital statistics. The study shows the existence of such provision in 24 member countries
and in six countries no such provision exists (Table 4).
6
Table 4: National statistics legislation with provision for collection, processing and
dissemination of vital statistics from civil registration
Provision exists
Provision does not exist
No response
Benin, Burundi, Central African
Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana,
Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar,
Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
Seychelles, Sudan, Togo
Zimbabwe
Equatorial Guinea,
Lesotho
Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco,
Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria,
Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South
Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia
17. Civil registration system can be organized and operated through a centralized or a
decentralized system. The centralized administration refers to a system in which the local civil
registration offices are directly controlled and administered by a central authority mandated for
the administration of civil registration. On the other hand, a decentralized administration refers
to a system in which civil registration operations are managed at the level of major civil
divisions such as the state, province or department. In such arrangement, civil registration
offices at major civil divisions will administer the civil registration operations at local civil
registration offices. Though the study collected detailed information on the organization,
management, and operation of civil registration, only few general findings will be presented in
this preliminary report.
18. A national civil registration plan interfaced with vital statistics is essential for a smooth
functioning of civil registration and vital statistics systems in a country. The Assessment Study
collected information on whether the countries have a national civil registration plan or not.
The result shows that 17 countries have a national civil registration plan and 13 countries have
no such plan (Table 5).
7
Table 5: Existence of national civil registration plan
Countries with national plan
Egypt, Kenya, Liberia
Madagascar, Mali, Morocco,
Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria,
Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa,
Countries with no national plan
Burkina Faso, Cameroon
Seychelles, Togo, Burundi
Central African republic,
Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea,
No response
Benin
Swaziland, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Equatorial Guinea, Malawi
Sudan, Lesotho
Mauritius, Sierra Leone
19. The Assessment Study collected information on the status of countries on the allocation of
financial resource for civil registration operations and activities by governments. The result
shows that in four countries adequate recurrent budget is allocated while in the majority of the
countries (22 countries) though budget is allocated, it is not adequate (Table 6). On the other
hand, in six countries no recurrent budget is allocated from the government for civil
registration.
Table 6: Allocation of recurrent budget and its adequacy
Adequate budget
Mali, Mauritius,
Morocco,
Seychelles
Inadequate budget
Burkina Faso, Burundi,
Cameroon, Central
African republic, Ghana,
No budget allocation
Benin, Guinea,
Madagascar, Egypt,
Togo, Ethiopia
Equatorial guinea,
Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia,
Malawi, Mozambique,
Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda,
Senegal, Sierra Leone,
South Africa, Sudan
Swaziland, Uganda,
Zambia, Zimbabwe
20. One of the primary purposes of civil registration is to provide legal and administrative
services to the public. Generally, provision of vital event registration services is recommended
to be free of charge. The study gathered information on whether countries charge fees for
8
registering a vital event for current and late registration. The result shows wide disparities
among countries. Seven countries charge fees for current registration for live birth, six for
death, thirteen for marriage and eight for divorce (Table 7). Quite a large number of countries
request payment for late registration: eighteen countries for live birth, fifteen for death, twelve
for marriage and nine for divorce. Egypt charges fees for current and late registrations for all
vital events.
Table 7: Fees for registering vital events by vital event and type of registration
Vital
Current
Late registration
No payment
No response
events
registration
Live birth
Benin, Guinea,
Benin, Ghana, Kenya,
Burkina Faso,
Central African
Mozambique,
Lesotho, Liberia,
Madagascar,
Republic, Ethiopia
Swaziland, Togo,
Malawi, Mali,
Nigeria, Senegal,
Uganda
Mozambique, Niger,
Seychelles,
Swaziland, Togo,
Zambia, Zimbabwe
Uganda, Burundi,
Cameroon, Morocco
Deaths
Marriages
Benin, Guinea,
Benin, Ghana, Kenya,
Burkina Faso,
Seychelles
Liberia, Swaziland,
Lesotho, Liberia,
Madagascar,
Uganda, Burundi,
Togo
Malawi, Mali, Morocco,
Nigeria, Senegal,
Central African
Mozambique, Niger,
Zambia,
Republic, Ethiopia,
Swaziland, Togo
Zimbabwe
Cameroon
Benin, Ghana,
Benin, Burundi, Kenya,
Burkina Faso,
Nigeria
Guinea, Lesotho,
Liberia, Malawi, Mal,
Cameroon,
Seychelles
Liberia, Kenya,
Morocco, Niger,
Madagascar,
Uganda, Central
Mozambique,
Zambia
Morocco, Senegal
African Republic,
Sierra Leone,
Ethiopia
Swaziland, Togo,
Zambia, Zimbabwe
Divorces
Benin, Ghana,
Benin, Burundi, Kenya,
Burkina Faso,
Cameroon, Guinea,
Kenya, Liberia,
Liberia, Zimbabwe
Madagascar,
Malawi, Mali,
Sierra Leone,
Morocco,
Nigeria, Senegal,
Swaziland, Togo
Mozambique, Niger,
Seychelles, Zambia,
9
Vital
Current
Late registration
events
registration
No payment
No response
Uganda
Central African
Republic, Ethiopia,
Lesotho, Zambia
All events
Egypt
Egypt, Sierra Leone,
Mauritius, Rwanda,
Guinea Equatorial
South Africa, Sudan
21. One major output of the civil registration system is the issuance of the vital event certificates for
different vital events. The study collected information on whether countries request fees for issuing
certificates for first and/or subsequent copies. The result shows that 11 countries request fees
for issuing certificates of first copies for all vital events, while four countries do not charge fees
for all the vital events (Table 8).
Table 8: Fees for issuing first copies of certificates
Type of
certificate
Birth
certificate
Countries requesting
payments
Morocco, Seychelles
Swaziland
No payments
Cameroon, Lesotho,
Madagascar, Mali,
Mauritius, Nigeria,
No response
Central African
Republic, Ethiopia,
Ghana
Senegal, Zambia,
Zimbabwe
Death
certificate
Ghana, Morocco,
Seychelles, Swaziland,
Zimbabwe
Cameroon, Lesotho,
Madagascar, Mali,
Mauritius, Nigeria,
Central African
Republic, Ethiopia,
Sierra Leone,
Senegal, Zambia
Marriage
certificate
Ghana, Seychelles, Sierra
Leone, Swaziland,
Zambia
Cameroon, Madagascar,
Mali, Mauritius, Senegal,
Zimbabwe
Nigeria, Central
African Republic,
Ethiopia, Lesotho,
Morocco
Divorce
certificate
Ghana, Madagascar,
Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe
Swaziland
Cameroon, Central
African Republic,
Ethiopia, Lesotho, Mali,
10
Type of
certificate
Countries requesting
payments
No payments
No response
Mauritius, Morocco,
Nigeria, Senegal,
Seychelles, Zambia
All events
certificate
Benin, Burundi, Egypt
Guinea, Kenya, Liberia,
Mozambique, Rwanda,
Sudan, Togo, Uganda
Burkina Faso, Malawi,
Niger, South Africa
Equatorial Guinea
22. As is the case for civil registration, a country may adopt a centralized or decentralized
system of administration of vital statistics. A centralized system is one in which the vital
statistics both for the country as a whole and individual regions or states is compiled and
disseminated centrally. On the other hand, decentralized vital statistics system refers to the
compilation and dissemination of vital statistics at different administration levels.
23. As per the recommendations of the United Nations, compilation of national vital statistics
should be the responsibility of national governments. In the majority of African countries, the
NSO is designated as the responsible organ for the compilation of national vital statistics from
the civil registration system. It should be noted that depending on national organizational and
operational arrangements, health ministries and institutions have big role in the compilation
and dissemination of causes of death statistics.
24. The vital statistics information collected through the civil registration system is expected to
be compiled and disseminated to users on a regular basis. The Assessment Study collected
information on whether the countries compile vital statistics from the civil registration system
or not. Among the countries responded to the questionnaire, quite a significant number (25
countries) have reported as compiling vital statistics from civil registration system (Table 9).
11
Table 9: Compilation of vital statistics from civil registration system
Countries compiling
Countries not
vital statistics
compiling vital
statistics
No response
Benin, Burundi, Central African republic, Burkina Faso,
Cameroon,
Egypt, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia,
Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco,
Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda,
Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland,
Equatorial
Guinea,
Ethiopia
Ghana, Malawi,
Sierra Leone
Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho,
Seychelles, Sudan, Togo
25. The death register is expected to include variables that enable to collect information on
causes of death. Causes of death information provide various key demographic and heath
indicators, including maternal mortality and major types of diseases leading to death in the
community. Among the countries responded to the study, slightly more than half (19 countries)
responded that their civil registration authorities are engaged in collecting causes of death
information (Table 10).
Table 10: Collecting and/or transmitting causes of death information
Countries collecting causes of
death information
Countries that do not collect
causes of death information
Benin, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya,
Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali,
Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger,
Burkina Faso, Burundi,
Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Guinea, Equatorial
Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra
Leone, South Africa, Swaziland,
guinea, Madagascar,
Morocco, Senegal, Sudan,
Zambia, Zimbabwe
Togo, Uganda, Ethiopia
26. The Assessment Study collected information pertaining to the structural arrangement for
compilation of vital statistics in the compiling Office. In the majority of the countries (17
12
countries), vital statistics is placed as a unit under a department or its equivalent (Table 11). In
three countries vital statistics is structured as a department under a division. In Mozambique
and Uganda a focal person is assigned to perform vital statistics activities. In Cameroon and
Malawi, nothing is specified about vital statistics in the compiling office structure. Eight
countries did not respond about the structural arrangement of vital statistics in the compiling
office.
Table 11: Vital statistics structures in national offices responsible for compiling vital statistics
A
A unit under a
Focal person
Nothing on
department
department or
performing
vital
under a
its equivalent
vital statistics
statistics
activities
specified in
division or
its
the
equivalent
structure
No response
Benin,
Burkina, Burundi ,
Mozambique,
Cameroon,
Guinea
Egypt,
Ghana, Guinea,
Uganda
Malawi
Equatorial,
South Africa
Kenya, Mali, Mauritius,
Lesotho, Niger,
Morocco, Nigeria,
Madagascar,
Rwanda, Seychelles
Senegal, Central
Sierra Leone, Sudan,
African
Swaziland, Togo, Zambia,
Republic,
Zimbabwe
Ethiopia
27. The principles of universality and permanency that characterizes a civil registration system
would require the government to provide access to registration services in proximity to the
residence of individuals and households in both urban and rural areas, by either establishing
local civil registration offices or creating service points. The local registration offices and service
points at all levels of the administrative hierarchy should also be established as permanent
government structures. Likewise, the vital statistics structure should be established considering
the institutional interface requirements with the civil registration structure in terms of
facilitating data flow and retrieval of completed vital statistics records from all corners of the
country. Furthermore, compilation, analysis and dissemination of vital statistics on a continuous
and current basis require corresponding institutional infrastructure that meet data and
information demands at various administration levels.
13
28. Civil registration institutions should have qualified and trained registrars and support staff
at each level of the administration. Capacity building programmes and incentivized schemes for
staff maintenance should be an integral part of the whole CRVS improvement initiative. The
findings of the Assessment Study on the status of CRVS institutional and human infrastructure
will be presented in the final report of the study.
29. Measurement of coverage and completeness in this study refers to both civil registration
and vital statistics systems. For civil registration, coverage and completeness refer to the
measurement of whether the vital events occurring to members of the population of a
particular country or area has been registered within a specified time period in all geographic
divisions and for all population groups. On the other hand, with regard to vital statistics in
addition to the requirement of registration of each vital event, completion of a vital statistics
report and forwarding it to the agency responsible for the compilation and production of vital
statistics is required. The assessment study included questions on both coverage and
completeness by territorial categories and population groups.
30. Countries are expected to monitor the operation and performance of their civil registration
system on a continuous basis and periodically measure the level of completeness of the
registration. The Assessment Study reveals that the majority of countries (21 countries) have
estimated at least once the completeness of their vital registration in the past 10 years (Table
12).
Table 12: Countries by whether estimated completeness of registration of vital events
at least once in the past 10 years
Countries that estimated completeness
of registration
Countries that did not
estimate completeness of
registration
Benin, Burundi, Uganda,
Cameroon, Central African Republic,
Egypt, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea,
Burkina Faso, Kenya,
Lesotho, Malawi, Sierra
Leone, Sudan, Zambia,
Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco,
Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda,
Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa,
Zimbabwe
No
response
Guinea,
Liberia,
Ethiopia
Swaziland, Togo
14
31. Civil registration is required to register all the vital events that occur in the entire country to
all the population groups and those residing abroad. The assessment study shows that in some
countries civil registration systems do not cover the entire country as well as all categories of
populations. Table 13 shows the countries that do not cover the entire population by categories
of the population for birth and death registrations. Live birth and death registration in Liberia
does not cover the whole rural population of the country. Uganda does not register live birth
and death events occurring to internally displaced persons. The birth and death registration of
Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia do not cover citizens residing abroad.
Table 13: Categories of population not covered in live birth and death registration
Population not covered
Live birth
Death
All the rural population
Liberia
Liberia, Uganda
Some residents of the rural
Uganda, Zambia
Uganda, Zambia
Nomads
Liberia, Mozambique
Uganda
Liberia, Mozambique
Internally Displaced Persons
(IDPs)
Uganda
Uganda
Refugees/ asylum seekers
Malawi, Mozambique
Uganda
Malawi, Mozambique
Uganda
Some residents of the urban
Mozambique, Uganda
Mozambique, Uganda
population
Zambia
Zambia
population
All residents of the urban
population
Uganda
Non-citizens residing in the
country
Malawi, Uganda
Malawi, Uganda
National residing abroad
Malawi, Mozambique
Uganda, Zambia
Liberia, Malawi,
Mozambique,
Uganda, Zambia,
32. According to responses from countries, only Mauritius and Seychelles have complete
registration (over 90 percent completeness level) for both live birth and death events (Table
15
14). Morocco reported complete registration for live birth only. Again, Mauritius and Seychelles
are the only countries reached 90 percent completeness for foetal death registration.
Table 14: Countries by level of completeness of vital events registration5
Vital
events
Level of Completeness (percent)
Over 90
70-90 percent
percent
Live birth
60-69
50-59
Below 50
Level
percent
percent
percent
unknown
Mauritius
Burundi, Egypt,
Cameroon,
Central
Benin,
Rwanda,
Morocco,
Equatorial
Ghana
African
Mali,
Madagasc
Seychelles
Guinea,
Republic
Niger,
ar,
Senegal, South
Nigeria,
Africa, Togo
Uganda
Foetal
Mauritius
Death
Seychelles
Death
Mauritius
Egypt, South
Equatorial
Seychelles
Africa
Egypt
South Africa
Nigeria,
Benin,
Uganda
Burundi
Cameroon
Benin,
Guinea,
Nigeria,
Rwanda,
Morocco
Uganda,
Mali
Burundi
Ghana
Marriage
Cameroon
Egypt, South
Mali
Burundi,
Equatorial
Africa
Uganda
Ghana ,
Guinea,
Rwanda
Mauritius,
Seychelles
Divorce
Mauritius
Egypt
Equatorial
Uganda
Benin,
Guinea,
Burundi,
South Africa
Ghana,
Rwanda
33. Vital statistics from civil registration system need to satisfy minimum completeness level to
serve its purpose and to be used with confidence. Measurement of completeness of vital
statistics is essential for taking the necessary action to improve both the civil registration and
5
Only countries who responded to the question are indicated
16
vital statistics systems. Table 15 reveals that only one-third of the countries have estimated
completeness of live birth and death statistics in the past ten years.
Table 15: Countries who have estimated completeness of their vital statistics in the
past ten years by vital event
Live birth
statistics
Foetal
death
Death
statistics
Marriage
statistics
Divorce
statistics
statistics
Burundi, Egypt,
Ghana, Madagascar,
Egypt,
Nigeria,
Burundi, Egypt,
Ghana, Madagascar,
Mali, Morocco,
Nigeria, Senegal,
Sierra Leone, South
Sierra Leone Mali, Morocco,
Nigeria, Sierra Leone,
South Africa, Zambia
Burundi,
Egypt, Mali
Egypt
Africa, Zambia
34. Among the countries reported on level of completeness, Egypt and Mali reported as
attained over 90 percent completeness for live birth and death statistics (Table 16). Only Egypt
has reported over 90 percent completeness for foetal death and divorce statistics.
Table 16: Countries who have estimated completeness of their vital statistics by
level of completeness and vital event
Vital
statistics
Level of Completeness (Percent)
Over 90
70-90
60-69
50-59
Below 50
Level
percent
percent
percent
percent
percent
unknown
Live Birth
Egypt,
Burundi,
Ghana
Sierra Leone
Nigeria,
Zambia
statistics
Mali,
Senegal,
Morocco
south Africa
Foetal
Madagascar
Egypt
Sierra Leone
Nigeria
Burundi
Morocco,
Ghana,
Zambia,
Sierra Leone
Nigeria,
Sierra
Madagascar
Leone,
Death
statistics
Death
Egypt
Mali
South Africa
Burundi
17
Vital
Level of Completeness (Percent)
statistics
Over 90
70-90
60-69
50-59
Below 50
Level
percent
percent
percent
percent
percent
unknown
Madagasc
ar
Marriage
Egypt,
statistics
Mali
Divorce
Egypt
Burundi
statistics
III.
CIVIL REGISTRATION AND VITAL STATISTICS SERVICES AND THEIR UTILIZATION
35. One of the primary objectives of civil registration system is to provide individual service to
the public and also to government agencies (and even non-government agencies) rendering
various legal, administrative and social services. The civil registration system provides legal and
administrative status to each vital event upon its registration. Individuals, families and
communities use the records and extracts to get different legal and administrative services. For
instance, birth record provides essential legal documentation of identity and civil status to the
individual. The extract from the birth record, the birth certificate is a legal document that
ensures the individual’s identity and provides family right and privileges including eligibility for
economic and social rights. Similarly death records provide legal evidence of the fact and
circumstance of death of the decedent. Marriage and divorce certificates certify the occurrence
and status of marriages and divorces.
36. Civil registration also provides service to the statistics sector by generating data on births,
deaths, marriages and divorces on regular and permanent basis. The vital statistics compiled
from the civil registration system enables the analysis of different facets of population
dynamics and their correlates. Knowledge of the size and characteristics of the population on a
timely basis depends on the availability of current and continuous vital statistics from the
registration system.
37. In light of the above, the assessment study gathered pertinent information on the status of
the utility of civil registration records, certificates and the compiled information for various
purposes. Some of the findings are presented below.
18
38. Courts are the primary users of vital event certificates in settling legal issues. As presented
in Table 17 a large number of countries are utilizing vital event certificates as primary legal
evidences for all vital events (23 countries). Few countries (Niger, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe)
reported as using the different vital event certificates as primary as well as secondary legal
evidences for all vital events.
Table 17: Courts using birth, death, marriage and divorce records/
certificates as legal evidences
Certificate
Birth
Death
Marriage
Divorce
Certificates of all events
as legal
certificate
certificate
certificate
certificate
As primary
Cameroon
Cameroon,
Cameroon,
Ghana,
legal
Malawi,
Ghana,
Ghana,
Burundi, Egypt, Guinea,
evidence
Mali,
Malawi, Mali
Malawi,
Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho,
Nigeria,
Nigeria,
Mali,
Liberia, Madagascar,
Senegal,
Senegal
Senegal,
Mauritius, Nigeria, Morocco,
Sierra
Sierra
Mozambique, Niger,
Leone
Leone
Rwanda, Seychelles, South
evidence
Benin, Burkina Faso,
Africa, Sudan, Swaziland,
Togo, Uganda, Zambia,
Zimbabwe
As
Ghana
Sierra Leone
secondary
Sierra
Niger, Togo, Uganda,
Leone
Zimbabwe
Cameroon,
Kenya, Mozambique,
Malawi,
Swaziland
legal
evidence
No
response
Nigeria
Mali,
Nigeria
Senegal
39. The assessment reveals that in nine countries families are requested to present birth
certificates to get post natal and immunization services, while in the majority of countries (19
countries) birth certificates are not requirements (Table 18).
19
Table 18: Countries in which health facilities request families to show birth records or
certificate while providing post natal services and immunization
Countries requesting
for birth certificates or
records
Countries that do not
request for birth
certificates or records
No response
Benin, Burundi, Central
African republic, Egypt,
Ghana, Guinea, Mali,
Burkina Faso
Equatorial Guinea,
Cameroon, Lesotho, Liberia, Kenya, Ethiopia
Madagascar, Malawi,
Mauritius, Mozambique, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria,
South Africa
Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelle,
Sierra Leone, Sudan,
Swaziland, Togo, Uganda,
Zambia, Zimbabwe
40. The death certificate has various administrative uses. One of these uses is to facilitate to get
burial permit or cremation permit for the deceased. The result from the assessment study
reveals that in 17 countries death certificates are required to get burial permit (Table 19).
Table 19: Countries in which burial places require death certificate or notification
letter allowing burial grounds or permit
Countries require death certificates
Countries with no
Practice
No
or notification
death certificates
or notification
varies
response
Kenya,
Zambia,
Ethiopia
requirement
Benin, Central African Republic,
Egypt, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea,
Liberia, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco,
Burkina Faso,
Cameroon,
Madagascar,
Lesotho,
Togo,
Burundi,
Mozambique, Senegal, Seychelles,
Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan,
Swaziland, Zimbabwe
Malawi, Nigeria,
Rwanda, Uganda,
Niger,
Ghana
20
41. Death statistics compiled from the civil registration system enables the analysis of
population dynamics and differentials in a country. In particular, annual death rates are used to
prepare life tables. The result indicates that the majority of countries (22 countries) are not
using the civil registration system as source for preparing life tables, where only six countries
are using (Table 20).
Table 20: Countries using death rates produced based on civil registration data
in preparing life tables in official statistics
Use death
rates from civil
registration
Do not use death rates from civil
registration
No response
Egypt, Mali,
Mauritius,
Mozambique,
Seychelles,
Burkina Faso, Malawi, Niger, Senegal,
South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Benin,
Burundi, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia,
Equatorial
Guinea,
Kenya,
Lesotho,
Sierra Leone
Madagascar, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda,
Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Zambia,
Ethiopia
IV. WAY FORWARD
42. The Africa Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics
(APAI-CRVS) sets regional strategies and implementation approaches in promoting the regional
initiative of improvement of CRVS systems in the continent. The APAI-CRVS will follow a
phased-based implementation approach where countries monitor their progress as they move
from one phase to the other. APAI-CRVS proposes three layers of monitoring and accountability
mechanisms that enable in tracking results: at ministerial, regional and national levels. The
regional assessment study is the main information source devised to generate continuous
evidences for monitoring results at all levels of the monitoring schemes. Countries are also
expected to conduct similar assessments at the national level and feed the regional monitoring
database system. The findings of the current assessment study will serve as baseline data in
building the regional country profile and monitoring database system, currently under
development.
21