Vital statistics and their sources

1. Vital statistics and their sources

2. Presentation plan • Sources of vital statistics and their pros and cons - Civil registration - Population censuses - Sample surveys 2. Countries’ data sources – a summary of pre-workshop assignments 3. Taking advantage of the 2010 round of population and housing censuses

3. Civil registration system Continuous, permanent, compulsory, universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events in accordance with the legal requirements in each country

4. Population Censuses The total process of collecting, compiling, evaluating, analyzing and publishing or otherwise disseminating demographic, economic and social data pertaining, at a specified time, to all persons in a country.

5. Sample surveys Household sample surveys collect information for relatively small but scientifically designed samples of the households.

6. Pros and cons of the three sources of fertility and mortality data (on the scale of High (H), Medium (M) and Low (L))

7. Pros and cons of the three sources of fertility and mortality data (on the scale of High (H), Medium (M) and Low (L)) (cont’d)

8. Civil registration is the best source for vital statistics • Data from civil registration: • Providing data continuously • Providing more accurate information on cause of deaths • Data from census and surveys: • Infrequent (for censuses) • Sampling errors (for surveys)

9. Results of the questionnaireData sources • Most countries in SADC region relies solely on censuses and sample surveys for vital statistics • Some countries use incomplete data from civil registration, in combination with other sources • One country has complete civil registration system: Mauritius

10. Issues related to civil registration systems: low-coverage • Civil registration system not compulsory • Malawi • Not a tradition to register vital events, especially in rural areas • Birth registration as low as 10% for Zambia in rural areas • Difficult to access areas: • Remote Area Dwellers (RADs) in Botswana do not have access to facilities where they could register these events • Non-conformance of regulations • Ignorance of the procedures, delayed registration of birth until school age (Mozambique)

11. Issues related to civil registration systems: Under-exploitation of the existing data • Lack of cooperation between civil registration and statistics offices • In South Africa, the exchange between civil registration and statistics office was stalled for seven years, as the civil registration authorities stopped providing data to Statistics South Africa • lack of cooperation between government institutions leading to for example delays in disbursement of funds(Swaziland) • Difficult format for statistics office to process • In South Africa and Swaziland, civil registration records are in mainframe format, requires developing sets of applications. • Sometimes civil registration data are available only in hard copy, requires coding, data entry, editing, tabulating (Malawi) • Lack of skill required on the compilation of vital statistics • Tanzania • Zimbabwe

12. Issues related to civil registration systems: lack of monitoring and evaluation tools • Very few countries in the region evaluate their registration system

13. Goals of the workshop… In light of this introduction the discussion in the next five days will focus on: • Introduce the United Nations guidelines for the collection and compilation of vital statistics • Assess the current status of civil registration and vital statistics system in the country

14. … Goals of the workshop • Identify gaps and propose strategies for the improvement of civil registration • Identify good practices that countries might follow (a) to collect data, (b) to calculate vital statistics, (c) to evaluate their quality • Examine the availability of data that countries are able to provide to UNSD through the Demographic Yearbook data collection and look for ways for further improvement.

15. 2010 World Census Programme – for fertility and mortality statistics • Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Rev. 2, published in 2008

16. 2010 World Census Programme – recommendations for the collection of fertility and mortality statistics • 6 core topics on fertility and mortality • Children ever born • Children Living • Date of birth of last child born alive • Births in the past 12 months • Deaths among children born in the last 12 months • Deaths in the household in the last 12 months

17. 2010 World Census Programme – recommendations for the collection of fertility and mortality statistics (cont.) • Additional topics • Age, date and duration of first marriage • Age of mother at birth of first child born alive • Maternal and paternal orphanhood

18. 2010 World Census Programme - how did we do in the 2000 round? (Core topics)

19. 2010 World Census Programme - how did we do in the 2000 round? (Additional topics)

20. 2010 World Census Programme - how did we do in the 2000 round? • Angola, DRC and Madagascar did not conduct census in the 2000 round • For others, coverage of fertility and mortality questions are good • Are those information used to • Estimate fertility and mortality level? • Evaluate birth and death registration in the country?

21. 2010 census round - recommendations • Take advantage of the 2010 census round to capture fertility and mortality information • Ask the right question AND compile the data • Use the census data to evaluate the civil registration system in the country

22. THANK YOU!