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Source of Vital Statistics in Ethiopia
United Nations Expert Group Meeting on
International Standard for Civil Registration and
Vital Statistics System
New York, 27-30 June 2011
Samia Zekaria Gutu
Director General
Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia
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Outline of the presentation
Background
Source of Vital Statistics
Sample Vital Statistics Registration
Adopting the UN Principles and Recommendation
Model Civil Registration as a Source of VS
Drafting a New Law in Ethiopia
The Leadership Role of the CSA on the Technical
Aspects
• Way Forward
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Background
• Geographically, Ethiopia is situated in the horn of Africa
between 3 and 5 degrees north latitude and 33 and 48
degrees east longitude.
• The total area of the country is about 1.1 million square
kilometers.
• Total counted population of the country on May 2007was
reported to be 73.92 million with annual growth rate of
2.6.
• Ethiopia is administratively sub-divided into nine regional
states and two city administrations with a Federal
System of a Government.
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Background
• The topographic features range from the highest peak at
Ras Dashen, (4,550 meters above sea level), down to
the Affar Depression at 110 meters below sea level.
• The climatic condition of the country varies with the
topography, ranging from 47 to 10 degrees Celsius.
• Ethiopia is a home to about 80 ethnic groups that vary in
population size from more than 18 million to less than
1000 persons.
• In general, Ethiopia is the second largest countries in
Africa in terms of population size and total area with
diversified culture, linguistic composition and large ethnic
compositions.
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Source of Vital Statistics
• Ethiopia is one of African countries that do
not have a working conventional Civil
Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS)
Systems.
• Even though there are so many articles
stating the necessity of CRVS system in the
country, many of them remain on paper due
to the absence of assigning proper
institutions and less emphasis.
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Source of Vital Statistics (cont’d)
• As a result, Ethiopia has not yet installed a
system of civil registration and vital statistics
that enables to produce of annual based
population statistics data.
• Currently the country’s major sources of vital
statistics are censuses and surveys that could
provide information for particular or specific
time periods as opposed to continuous
gathering of information through vital
registration.
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Sample Vital Statistics Registration
• In Ethiopia, institutional based statistical data
generation is only five decades old, which is very
young, compared to many other countries.
• The Ethiopian Central Statistics Agency (CSA) has
made numerous attempts to lay the foundation for the
establishment of civil registration and vital statistics
system in the country.
• In 1977, 1982, and 1983 the CSA initiated an
experimental sample vital statistics registration.
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• Subsequently, a continuous sample vital
statistics registration /dual-records/ system was
also implemented in 1986 and 1998 in some
selected urban and rural areas of the country.
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• The main objectives of these initiatives were to
test whether it would be possible to carry out
civil registration and vital statistics by providing
technical and material assistance to urban and
rural dwellers associations (i.e. to the lowest
administrative levels of the country).
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Adopting the UN Principles and Recommendation
• In 1999 CSA conducted a technical review program on the
methodologies followed in the study for the establishment
and development of vital statistics system through the
registration method.
• After the review and extensive debate, the management of
the then Authority decided to quit the experimental sample
vital registration and household survey, which is categorized
as dual recording data collection method that was followed
as one methodology for the establishment of CRVS system
in the country.
• Therefore, all efforts were shifted to the principles and
recommendations of the UN that were put in the guideline
and methodologies for the establishment and development
of CRVS system in developing countries.
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Adopting the UN Principles and
Recommendation (cont’d)
• After aborting sample and survey based vital
registration exercises, the CSA fully devoted to the
development of conventional civil registration and vital
statistics systems.
• The CSA had also shouldered technical aspects of
the initiative and led the government towards
conventional civil registration system through:
– close communication, collaboration and involvement of
regional states,
– technical debates with the academics and professionals, and
– advising UN agencies and NGOs to align their interventions
to the UN principles and recommendations of CRVS
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Model Civil Registration as a Source of VS
• By incorporating the past experiences learned
from the previous countrywide Sample Vital
Statistics Registration of late 1970s and 1980s,
the UNICEF assisted Model Civil Registration
that run in three Regional States showed
positive and worthwhile outcomes in 2005.
• The main objectives of this model registration
program was to test and adopt civil registration
and vital statistics technical instruments in the
country as stated in the UN recommendation.
• It was realized that to fully utilize Civil
Registration as a source of Vital Statistics, legal
framework need to be in place.
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What were the Lessons from Model Registration?
• Major Lessons were to:
– devise a proper civil registration and vital statistics
administration and organization that conforms to the regions’
socio-cultural and geo- political set-up;
– demonstrate the operation, maintenance of civil registration
and vital statistics systems in the regional states,
– compile and disseminate vital events statistics information
on a continuous and current basis;
– ensure continuous, and permanent recording of vital events
proper legislation that enforces nationwide need be put in
place .
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Drafting a New Law in Ethiopia
According to the UN Principle:
• Legal framework is an essential component for efficient
management, operation and maintenance of the Civil
Registration system.
• The civil registration law should specifically provide clear
guidelines including the type of organizational structure.
• Ethiopia has been engaged in drafting a new Civil Registration
Law since 2009 which took some time due to the need to
further study the possibility of combining National Identification
System with CR Law.
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The Leadership Role of the CSA on the Technical
Aspects
• In the Ethiopian context the information of vital events is
expected to be transferred to the CSA and its role would be
properly defined in the redrafted law based on the UN
Principles and Recommendation.
• The CSA has incorporated CRVS in its National Strategy for
Statistical Development (NSDS) and formulated a framework
strategy and a work program in the next five years (2009/102013/14).
• In this NSDS document, one of the major statistical strategic
themes that has been endorsed by the Statistics Council of
the country is the establishment of sound Civil Registration
and Vital Statistics Systems.
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Aspects (cont’d)
• Currently high momentum is created in data demand for vital statistics by
regional governments and the justice system.
• This is an opportunity for the CSA to continue playing its leadership role by
responding proactively in the technical aspects.
• In many African countries the limitation of vital statistics is its coverage when
it come to its completeness, however, the existence of over 30 thousand
health extension agents in the country is considered to be an advantage in
the Ethiopian context, as they are considered to be instrumental in the
implementation of the law.
• The MoH has prepared and provided family book to each health extension
agent to record health status including vital events that has occurred in a
family such as birth and death. This could be utilized as an input to Civil
registration especially in rural parts of the country.
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Way Forward
• The CSA and the forthcoming Civil Registration and
National Identification Agency will continue collaborating in
addressing the challenges
• The draft proclamation establishes a central office, at the
federal level, for the registration of vital events, which also
coordinates and facilitates the registration of vital events
throughout the country. It is also entrusted to create the
necessary conditions for exchange of information using
appropriate modern technology.
• This proclamation is expected to provide a compulsory,
universal, permanent and continuous system of civil
registration to be in place.
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Thank you