How useful are registered birth statistics for health and social policy? A global systematic assessment of the availability and quality of birth registration data
Abstract Background The registration and certification of births has a wide array of individual and societal benefits. While near-universal in some parts of the world, birth registration is less common in many low- and middle-income countries, and the quality of vital statistics vary. We assembled p...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2018-12-01
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| Series: | Population Health Metrics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12963-018-0180-6 |
| _version_ | 1811268778072211456 |
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| author | David E. Phillips Tim Adair Alan D. Lopez |
| author_facet | David E. Phillips Tim Adair Alan D. Lopez |
| author_sort | David E. Phillips |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background The registration and certification of births has a wide array of individual and societal benefits. While near-universal in some parts of the world, birth registration is less common in many low- and middle-income countries, and the quality of vital statistics vary. We assembled publicly available birth registration records for as many countries as possible into a novel global birth registration database, and we present a systematic assessment of available data. Methods We obtained 4918 country-years of data from 145 countries covering the period 1948–2015. We compared these to existing estimates of total births to assess completeness of public data and adapted existing methods to evaluate the quality and timeliness of the data. Results Since 1980, approximately one billion births were registered and shared in public databases. Compared to estimates of fertility, this represents only 40.0% of total births in the peak year, 2011. Approximately 74 million births (53.1%) per year occur in countries whose systems do not systematically register them and release the aggregate records. Considering data quality, timeliness, and completeness in country-years where data are available, only about 12 million births per year (8.6%) occur in countries with high-performing registration systems. Conclusions This analysis highlights the gaps in available data. Our objective and low-cost approach to assessing the performance of birth registration systems can be helpful to monitor country progress, and to help national and international policymakers set targets for strengthening birth registration systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T21:29:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5335f2dffeda4485ad0f6741d37dcc17 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1478-7954 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T21:29:03Z |
| publishDate | 2018-12-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Population Health Metrics |
| spelling | doaj.art-5335f2dffeda4485ad0f6741d37dcc172022-12-22T03:16:06ZengBMCPopulation Health Metrics1478-79542018-12-0116111310.1186/s12963-018-0180-6How useful are registered birth statistics for health and social policy? A global systematic assessment of the availability and quality of birth registration dataDavid E. Phillips0Tim Adair1Alan D. Lopez2Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of WashingtonMelbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of MelbourneMelbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of MelbourneAbstract Background The registration and certification of births has a wide array of individual and societal benefits. While near-universal in some parts of the world, birth registration is less common in many low- and middle-income countries, and the quality of vital statistics vary. We assembled publicly available birth registration records for as many countries as possible into a novel global birth registration database, and we present a systematic assessment of available data. Methods We obtained 4918 country-years of data from 145 countries covering the period 1948–2015. We compared these to existing estimates of total births to assess completeness of public data and adapted existing methods to evaluate the quality and timeliness of the data. Results Since 1980, approximately one billion births were registered and shared in public databases. Compared to estimates of fertility, this represents only 40.0% of total births in the peak year, 2011. Approximately 74 million births (53.1%) per year occur in countries whose systems do not systematically register them and release the aggregate records. Considering data quality, timeliness, and completeness in country-years where data are available, only about 12 million births per year (8.6%) occur in countries with high-performing registration systems. Conclusions This analysis highlights the gaps in available data. Our objective and low-cost approach to assessing the performance of birth registration systems can be helpful to monitor country progress, and to help national and international policymakers set targets for strengthening birth registration systems.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12963-018-0180-6Civil registrationVital statisticsBirth certificatesData quality |
| spellingShingle | David E. Phillips Tim Adair Alan D. Lopez How useful are registered birth statistics for health and social policy? A global systematic assessment of the availability and quality of birth registration data Population Health Metrics Civil registration Vital statistics Birth certificates Data quality |
| title | How useful are registered birth statistics for health and social policy? A global systematic assessment of the availability and quality of birth registration data |
| title_full | How useful are registered birth statistics for health and social policy? A global systematic assessment of the availability and quality of birth registration data |
| title_fullStr | How useful are registered birth statistics for health and social policy? A global systematic assessment of the availability and quality of birth registration data |
| title_full_unstemmed | How useful are registered birth statistics for health and social policy? A global systematic assessment of the availability and quality of birth registration data |
| title_short | How useful are registered birth statistics for health and social policy? A global systematic assessment of the availability and quality of birth registration data |
| title_sort | how useful are registered birth statistics for health and social policy a global systematic assessment of the availability and quality of birth registration data |
| topic | Civil registration Vital statistics Birth certificates Data quality |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12963-018-0180-6 |
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