Civil Registration and Vital Statistics support (CRVS)

Civil registration is the process through which governments maintain a record of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events (such as births and deaths) within country. Through birth registration and the issuance of a birth certificate, civil registration establishes an individual’s legal identity, which is a fundamental human right that facilitates the realisation of other critical human and civil rights. Death registration provides the legal closure of an individual’s legal identity and is equally critical in facilitating the realisation of important rights. Civil registration provides governments with routine demographic and health data, needed for administrative planning. It is recognised by the United Nations to be the most reliable source of Vital Statistics.

In an effort to improve Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) systems, Pacific countries have committed to the Pacific Vital Statistics Action Plan, which sits under the Ten Year Pacific Statistics Strategy and to Asia and Pacific decade for CRVS (2014–2024) and the corresponding regional action framework. Within these frameworks, countries endeavour to achieve three main goals:

  1. Universal registration of births and deaths (including causes of death);
  2. Provision of legal documentation (birth and death certificates) on all vital events registered and;
  3. To produce accurate, complete and timely vital statistics based on civil registration records.
Birth Registration
Death Registration

CRVS Latest News

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Improving medical certification of cause of death in the Pacific

March 9, 2023
Medical certification of cause of death (MCCD) is a key source of mortality statistics. The death certificate is a permanent record of the fact and characteristics of death. It provides important personal information about the decedent, the circumstances and the cause of death.
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Meet David Abbott, Manager - Data Analysis and Dissemination at SPC, discussing SPC’s Role in Supporting Improvements in CRVS in the Pacific

October 28, 2021
SPC provides technical assistance to Pacific Island countries and territories in developing civil registration and vital statistics systems and data.
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Civil Registration and Vital Statistics profiles for the Pacific Island region

August 30, 2021
The CRVS profiles consolidate knowledge shared by countries on the status of their CRVS systems in the recent past, including through government websites, published reports, media releases and presentations, and direct engagement between the authors of these profiles and in-country civil registration offices and health information offices.
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COD coding Curriculum for PICTs report

August 16, 2021
Coding causes of death to an international standard enables the comparability of mortality statistics over time and between countries.

Key Workshops & Webinars

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Webinars on COVID-19 impact on civil registration and vital statistics

18 May 2020 - 20 May 2020
​Webinars on COVID-19 impact on civil registration and vital statistics are organized in order to address (a) international standards for civil registration and vital statistics and their implementation in countries/areas; (b) impact on the operations and maintenance of civil registration and production of vital statistics in the time of COVID-19 pandemic; (c) short- and long-term consequences on registration of vital events due to the pandemic, and (d) beyond COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring universal civil registration of all vital events and production of comprehensive, reliable and regular vital statistics.
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Pacific Regional Workshop on Legal Identity and Identity Security

08 Jul 2019 - 10 Jul 2019
The Brisbane Accord Group (BAG) in collaboration with the Public Health division of the Pacific Community (SPC) is organising a regional workshop on Legal Identity and Identity Security.
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Sub-regional training on medical certification of causes of death

05 Dec 2018 - 07 Dec 2018
​The Brisbane Accord Group is organising a sub-regional training for doctors on medical certification of causes-of-death.
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Data analysis and report writing workshop

21 May 2018 - 31 May 2018
​Objectives: strengthening  the capacity of countries in the analysis of administrative data generated from civil registration systems with an objective of providing evidence on the performance of civil registration systems and; making this data available for policy and planning (where it meets a sufficient level of quality and completeness).

SDD role in CRVS

Technical assistance for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) in the Pacific is coordinated through the Pacific Vital Statistics Action Plan (PVSAP) which is a coordination mechanism for the activities of the Brisbane Accord Group (BAG).

The basic approach of the PVSAP is to work with countries to undertake an assessment of their collection and reporting systems for births, deaths and causes-of-death. This Information is then used by countries to develop a multi-sectoral country-specific CRVS improvement plan. BAG supports countries in building capacity to enable efficient implementation of different components of the CRVS plan.

BAG’s technical assistance programme includes:

  1. Development of regional best practice guidelines and support to countries to subsequently implement these in areas such as legislation, data sharing, and IT systems;
  2. Creating awareness and promoting use of the UN principles and recommendations for civil registration and vital statistics systems;
  3. Capacity building on: 
    • Analysis and interpretation of civil registration data
    • Medical certification of causes of death
    • ICD coding of cause of death
  4. Providing platforms for knowledge and experience sharing through:
    • South to south collaboration
    • Thematic workshops
  5. Conducting research based on common issues identified through country assessments and regionals sectoral engagement.

If you would like any more information about this work please contact us via the LiveChat on the bottom-right of this screen.