Seventh Management Seminar for the Heads of National Statistical Officers in Asia and the Pacific 13-15 October 2008, S

1. Seventh Management Seminarfor the Heads of National Statistical Officers in Asia and the Pacific13-15 October 2008, Shanghai, China KEY CHALLENGES FOR THE USE OF ADMINISTRATIVE DATA IN DEMOGRAPHIC AND MIGRATION STATISTICS: MALAYSIA EXPERIENCE by Ismail Yusoff Deputy Chief Statistician Social and Demographic Program Department of Statistics Malaysia Putrajaya

2. INTRODUCTION • DOSM received data on births, deaths, stillbirths, marriages & divorces records from National Registration Department (NRD) every two months. • Prior to 2000, the records were obtained via copies of births and deaths certificates (hardcopy). • Beginning from 2000, NRD sent the records via CDs (softcopy). • These records will be processed to generate demographic statistics include demographic indicators, population projections & estimates and life table.

3. Malaysia has a few sources of administrative data for migration statistics which include the National Registration Department (NRD), Ministry of Home Affairs and the Immigration Department • The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOS) conducts Migration Survey to obtain estimates of population movements, migration trends at state level as well as socio-economic information on migrants and non-migrants.

4. The survey was first conducted in 1981, as a separate module of the Labour Force Survey. • DOS is currently reviewing the Migration Survey to cater for movers and population migrating to other countries. • Sources from administrative sources will be studied in terms suitability and reliability of data for migration estimates.

5. DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS

6. FLOW OF RECORDS TRANSMISSION certificate Registration Department (District/State) online Police Station softcopy National Registration Department (NRD) Department Of Statistics (DOSM) Applicant/ Relative/ Public Hospital Medical Centers Village Headmen/ Headmaster

7. THE PROCESS OF COMPILING VITAL STATISTICS NRD Query Receiving Records • Receive records from NRD Preliminary Checking • Check number of records vs summary of records from NRD and duplicate cases No Correct? Yes • Coding 3. Code and impute data for variables gender, ethnic group, citizenship, state, address and causes of death) Checking 4. Check data No Correct? Yes • Tabulation & calculation 5. Generate tables and indicators 6. Release publication of vital statistics • Publication

8. CHALLENGES IN USING ADMINISTRATIVE DATA FOR DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS • QUALITY OF DATA Incomplete data (partial information/empty field), inaccurate and inconsistent information as well as duplication of records Example : Incomplete information and incorrect spellings cause difficulties in verifying and checking, as well as giving correct codes to the following information : - Usual Place of Residence (address); and - Causes of Death (ICD 10)

9. The percentage of incomplete information for addresses is 6.4% in 2001 and 3.9% in 2006. It requires an additional 19 and 13 days respectively to complete coding . • The percentage of incomplete information for causes of death was 19.8% in 2001 and 14.5% in 2006. Additional 59 and 47 days were required respectively .

10. B. UNDER-STATED/UNDER COVERAGE (occurred in Sabah) • Based on the comparison of birth data from the NRD and the 1991 & 2000 Population & Housing Censuses using Census Survival Ratio Method, it was proven that the completeness of data on population (aged below one year) collected by the Census in Sabah is better with 91.6% compared with data from the NRD which is only 80.7%

11. The adjusted crude birth rate (CBR) in Sabah in 2000 was 26.3, whereas it was only 21.5 from NRD while Census recorded the CBR at 24.4.

12. C. TRAINING • DOSM - Need skill and experienced staff to do the imputation & validation - Cost & time incurred to provide training to develop skill and expertise • NRD - At present, the staff are focused on all relevant registration works. Therefore, there’s a need for specialized training to be provided to the staff solely on birth and death registration D. ENFORCEMENT • NRD to enforce births & deaths registration law especially in Sabah to resolve under-stated issue • NRD to enforce all information in the registration form are mandatory to be filled up by the applicant to avoid incomplete information.

13. MIGRATION STATISTICS

14. NATIONAL REGISTRATION DEPARTMENT It is responsible for registering important events of every individual such as birth, death, adoption, marriage and divorce. In addition, NRD is also responsible for determining citizenship status and issuing individual identification document to those who are eligible in the form of an identity card

15. To study the possibility of using NRD’s record in 2010 census, basic records for two areas from the first Pre-Test was compared with NRD’s record. • From 350 records for Johor Bahru, only 236 records or 67.4% can be matched with NRD’s records. • Differences exist for a few variables which include name, address, identity card numbers, sex, date of birth, marital status.

16. A. NATIONAL REGISTRATION DEPARTMENT (cont’d)

17. In the case of Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, from a total of 1161 records , none of them can be matched with NRD’s records. This could be due to migration and partly to some registrations that was made at state of Selangor. Note : Selangor is a neighbouring state to Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur

18. MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS The Ministry of Home Affairs controls the inflow and outflow of foreign workers and maintain the database of foreign workers and expatriates - a good source for international migration

19. Weaknesses of the database • The codes and classifications used particularly industry and occupation does not conform to existing standards e.g. MISC and MASCO. • Data is classified as restricted. • A lot of work e.g. data cleansing and negotiations need to be undertaken to access and use the data as a source of migration statistics

20. IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT • Amongst the functions of the Immigration Department is to provide an efficient and effective service in the issuance of passports and other travel documents and to facilitate Immigration services to foreign nationals entering and exiting Malaysia. • Country such as Australia uses data from Immigration Department e.g. incoming (arriving) and outgoing (departing) passenger movements to capture information on net overseas migration. • To use this source for net overseas migration statistics, the present forms used by the Immigration Department need to be reviewed and collaboration needs to be initiated.

21. CONCLUSION • Using administrative data as a source for demographic statistics is very timely & cost effective. However among the challenges are to improve the accuracy, completeness and consistency of the information as well as to minimize the under-stated problem. This can be done through providing relevant training to the staff and enforcement in birth and death registration regulations.

22. Administrative data can be used as a source for migration statistics. Amongst the challenges include use of non standard codes and classifications, classification of data as restricted, change in regulations e.g. enforcement in notification in change of address, changes in forms and colloboration e.g. MOU with the respective agencies

23. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION