United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Proposals for Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System, Rev. 3 Part One, Chapter 2 United Nations Statistics Division

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Outline of the presentation -Introduce each section and contents -What is new and what is revised? Reasons? -Points for discussion

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Proposed sections in the chapter A.Definition of vital statistics system B.Priority in data collection C.Principles for the collection and compilation of vital statistics D.Designation of responsibilities, organizational structure of a national vital statistics system E.Integration and coordination in the vital statistics system F.Topics and themes to be covered in a vital statistics system G.Operational principles for compiling and processing vital statistics H.Presentation of results and data dissemination

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Proposed changes from Rev. 2 Overall: – Covers all possible sources to generate vital statistics, not only focusing on civil registration-based vital statistics More specific changes – Definition of a vital statistics system is incorporated - Section A – Quality control - a new principle for the collection and compilation of vital statistics - Section C – More elaborated discussion is presented on the advantages and disadvantages of the three major alternatives in administering the vital statistics programmes - Section D – Topics and themes that can be collected in censuses and in single-round retrospective surveys to estimate fertility, mortality and nuptiality are incorporated - Section F. – A new subsection - protection against disclosures in statistical presentations – is added while discussing presentation of results and data dissemination - Section H

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Basis of the proposed revisions Internal reviews Feedbacks from users of the Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System, Rev. 2 – Communications with countries/experts – Regional workshops – Responses to the concept note National experiences gained in the last 10 years ********************************************** Additional revisions will be incorporated based on discussions from this EGM

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section A Definition of a vital statistics system (no change) – A vital statistics system is defined as the total process of (a) collecting information by civil registration or enumeration on the frequency of occurrence of specified and defined vital events, as well as relevant characteristics of the events themselves and of the person or persons concerned, and (b) compiling, processing, analyzing, evaluating, presenting and disseminating these data in statistical form. The vital events of interest are: live births, adoptions, legitimations, recognitions; deaths and foetal deaths; and marriages, divorces, separations and annulments of marriage

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section A (Cont.) Sources of vital statistics Samples surveys Population census Civil registration Sample registration Health services Administrative records

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section B – Priority in data collection In the following order (civil registration): live births and deaths foetal deaths Marriages and divorces Others Censuses and surveys: Live births and deaths Marriages Divorces Population growth and key health indicators Perinatal mortality and pregnancy outcomes

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section C - Principles for the collection and compilation of vital statistics Covered in the Rev. 2: Universal coverage Continuity Confidentiality Regular dissemination Propose to add: Quality control

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section C - Principles for the collection and compilation of vital statistics (cont.) Universal coverage Covering all vital events occurring in every geographic area and in every population group Continuity Data need to reflect short-term fluctuations, including seasonal movements, as well as longer- term movements

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section C - Principles for the collection and compilation of vital statistics (cont.) Confidentiality Personal information safeguarded Widest possible use of data but with provisions on confidentiality Regular dissemination Monthly and quarterly count of vital events Detailed annual tabulations by demographic and socio-demographic characteristics National and international comparable

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section C - Principles for the collection and compilation of vital statistics (cont.) Quality control Procedures that ensure the quality of vital statistics - completeness, correctness, availability and timeliness An integrated element within the vital statistics system Regular and routine Set up at each step: – Field activities – Querying practices at the time of data collection – Following up with statistical report transfer – Checking/querying at statistics editing, coding and tabulation stages

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section C - Principles for the collection and compilation of vital statistics (cont.) Quality control – response to the concept note … noted that a specific focus in reviewing principles and recommendations is placed on quality control and assurances, and such approach is strongly supported.

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section D - Designation of responsibilities, organizational structures of a national vital statistics system What to include under the legal framework for civil registration and vital statistics systems – Responsibility for collecting, compiling, processing and disseminating vital statistics – Civil registration as the source of vital statistics – Designate duties: how vital statistics system obtains data from civil registration – Coordination mechanisms Civil registration and vital statistics systems Various sources of vital statistics – concepts, definitions, classifications Users and producers – Requirement of statistical information recorded – Reporting, compilation, processing, tabulation, analysis, presentation and dissemination procedures – Procedure to monitoring and evaluation of the system

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section D - Designation of responsibilities, organizational structures of a national vital statistics system Vital statistics administration – Within national statistical office Equal treatment of vital events more likely More extensive tabulations No control over data collection With other competing priorities (census) – Within the civil registration office Direct control over data collection Might not be very interested in the statistical function – Within relevant agencies (e.g., birth/death in Ministry of Health) For some, more interest in statistics – generate better data For others, not so much interest in statistics (eg, court registering marriages and divorces)

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section E - Integration and Coordination Coordination mechanisms – adopting uniform legislation on a nationwide basis – using consistent concepts, definitions and classifications within the vital statistics system, across all data sources – ensuring centralized coordination of statistical activities – creating an inter-agency coordination committee – adopting uniform processes and practices at every level of the vital statistics system

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section E - Integration and Coordination Techniques to improve communication between local and central offices; between staffs in civil registration and vital statistics offices  improve uniformity – Issuing handbooks – Producing newsletters jointly by staff from different offices, discussing various issues, keeping everyone informed – Conducting trainings by travelling consultants; can also check quality and completeness at local and sub-national level by consultants

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section E - Integration and Coordination Coordination mechanisms – response to the concept note  strengthening the text? Many highlighted the importance of coordination mechanisms in successfully running the civil registration and vital statistics systems. Proposals from the respondents included that the revision should reaffirm the importance of collaboration between key institutions. The revision should also point out the benefits of creating an inter-agency committee to overseeing the operation of civil registration and vital statistics. The coordination among key institutions also benefits from establishing a clear delineation of responsibilities of various institutions in the legal framework for the vital statistics system. In addition, common concepts and definitions across all data sources should be emphasized in the revision.

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section F - Topics and themes to be covered in a vital statistics system -Topics and themes to be collected for vital statistics purposes through a civil registration system: core and non-core, for -Live birth -Death -Foetal death -Marriage -Divorce -ESA/STAT/AC.233/3, table 1

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section F - Topics and themes to be covered in a vital statistics system -Topics and themes to be collected through population censuses and sample surveys, on -Fertility -Mortality -ESA/STAT/AC.233/3, table 2

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section F - Topics and themes to be covered in a vital statistics system Topics to be covered – response to the concept note In general, all replies support re-visiting the core topics for a vital statistics system. Summarizing the opinions, they range from the need to enlarge the list of core topics – for example, with variables to monitor maternal health and pregnancy outcomes or expanding the variable of marital status to accommodate people who are in civil partnerships – to noting that quite a few of the core topics in the current set of recommendations are not used because of the low response rate.

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section G - Operational principles for compiling and processing vital statistics Advance planning for data collection – Meeting user needs, setting priorities – Long-range programming: 3 – 4 year planning – Compiling statistics for all geographic areas, major/minor civil divisions, major town and cities, by urban/rural – Covering total population, with accompanying meta- data – Identifying important population sub-groups (eg, based on ethnicity)

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section G - Operational principles for compiling and processing vital statistics (cont.) Centralized compilation at national level is recommended Recommendations on various components of vital statistics system – Obtaining records from data collection agency: strict reporting schedule – Editing, data intial checking – Querying at inconsistency/inappropriate response – Imputation of missing and inconsistent information – Coding, in particular cause of death and place of registration/residence/occurrence, needs special instructions – Converting data into electronic format: responsibilities/procedure/checks

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section G - Operational principles for compiling and processing vital statistics (cont.) Recommendations on various components of vital statistics system (cont.) – Tabulation: Review conducted on coverage of vital statistics, completeness + accuracy of characteristics, sufficient information, and timeliness Provide meta-data to users when prepare tabulations Tabulating based on occurrence, not registration, revealing information on delayed registration Tabulating based on usual residence

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section H - Presentation of results and data dissemination Basic principles Regular dissemination All geographic area Data by necessary classification Timely reporting

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Section H - Presentation of results and data dissemination (cont.) Forms of data dissemination/ways to strengthen dissemination programme Annual publication Working tabulations Quarterly and monthly bulletin Electronic dissemination Special tabulation, for users upon request Technical meetings, discussing contents and limitations of the data files and how best to use and interpret them Directory of users, announcing availability of publications and technical meetings Protection against disclosure in statistical presentations (new!) – Type of disclosure – How to deal with them

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, June 2011, New York Points for discussion Structure and content of the chapter Core/non-core topics to be covered on civil registration statistical form Newly proposed additions: – Quality control as one principle for the collection and compilation of vital statistics (Section C) – Topics to be collected in censuses and surveys (Section F) – Protection of privacy at data dissemination (Section H) Any additions/revisions?