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2025 review of CRVS progress in Asia and the Pacific

Members and Associate Members of ESCAP are currently undertaking a review of their progress since the inception of the Asia Pacific CRVS Decade in 2014. A questionnaire has been distributed to National CRVS focal points and should be returned to ESCAP by 15 September.
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2024 Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Applied Research Training Initiative

The CRVS applied research training (CART) initiative focuses on enhancing CRVS systems through supporting applied research on strategies, interventions, and tools. This involves designing projects to address practical questions, employing robust methodologies, and identifying key personnel for effective implementation and publication. The need to strengthen practitioners' research capacity is evident, as highlighted in the Asia-Pacific CRVS research forum held in 2023.

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Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems Improvement Framework

To meet the targets of the CRVS Decade, a Business Process Improvement approach can help improve and streamline Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) system. The CRVS Systems Improvement Framework help CRVS stakeholders assess, analyze and redesign, to improve user experience and produce timely vital statistics.

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Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Inequality Assessments

The Ministerial Declaration on CRVS in Asia and the Pacific emphasizes the need to address CRVS inequalities among hard-to-reach and marginalized populations, promoting universality and equity in civil registration regardless of factors such as gender, religion, or ethnicity. Countries are encouraged to conduct assessments to assess where such inequalities may exist.

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Follow CRVS news in Asia and the Pacific by subscribing to the CRVS Insight Newsletter

The CRVS community in Asia and the Pacific has reflected on where it stands at the midpoint of the CRVS Decade (2015-2024) during the Second Ministerial Conference. Following this celebration of progress, many of our partners and member countries are leading actions to fill the remaining gaps.

To learn more about CRVS in Asia and the Pacific, please subscribe to our newsletter, which offers a monthly panorama of CRVS actions throughout the region

Previous editions can be found here.

World Bank publishes 2018 ID4D Global Dataset

The World Bank released the 2018 edition of the ID4D Global Dataset. According to the data at hand, an estimated of one billion people worldwide face challenges in proving who they are. Consequently, they struggle to access basic services and can be excluded from formal employment opportunities. The dataset further sheds light on who these one billion people living without official proof of identity are. Around 81% live in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, 63% live in lower-middle income economies, 28% live in low-income economies. In the later, a large gender gap characterizes the unregistered population – over 45% of women lack official proof of identity compared to 30% of men. More detailed information on the global identification challenge can be found on the ID4D website, where the 2018 ID4D Global Dataset is also available for download.

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Implementing unique identifiers to support universal health coverage

Crudely aggregated health data and multiple identifiers can make the administration of healthcare difficult and challenge universal health coverage. The introduction of unique identifiers offers a possible solution by supporting the establishment of an effective and equitable national health system. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) publication On the Road to Universal Health Coverage: Every Person Matters further underlines the need for personal official identification (ID) to ensure an individual’s access to government services, and social and economic programs. The following eight stages are suggested to guide the implementation of unique identifiers and create a robust digital ID system that is interoperable and scalable: Develop an enabling legal environment for registration and identification, with a fundamental commitment to data privacy and security Convene stakeholders and create cross-agency support Develop long-term financing and a capacity development plan for ICT investments and training programs Establish an ICT-based, universal civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system Introduce the technical components, such as servers, for setting up a civil registry or patient registry, and network infrastructure Build an integrated population identification system Launch a unified data distribution and verification center covering all individuals Align organizations and introduce e-governance processes to ensure efficient and transparent service delivery

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Kiribati: Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Report 2012 - 2014

The Kiribati National Statistics Office together with the Kiribati Civil Registration Office and the Kiribati Health Information Unit published the Kiribati Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Report 2012 - 2014. The report presents statistics on live births, deaths and the causes of death based on administrative data provided by the country's Health Information Unit (HIU) of the Ministry of Health (MoH) and, in a few instances, the country's Civil Registration Office (CRO). The report underlines the potential role of administrative data in complementing population data from census collections and surveys. The report was developed by Agnether Lemuelu, Kantaake Corbett, Mantarae Sadea with assistance from Tiensi Kaua, Registrar for Births, Deaths and Marriages, Kiribati, and Gloria Mathenge and Karen Carter of SPC as part of the commitments made by the Government of Kiribati towards universal registration of births and deaths, legal identification, and production of vital statistics from registration records. Support from ESCAP was made as part of a project to strengthen the National Capacity in Producing and Disseminating Vital Statistics funded by the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative.

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Data analysis and report writing workshop for Civil Registration based Vital Statistics

The Brisbane Accord Group (BAG) under the leadership of the Pacific Community (SPC), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), UNICEF, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, will be conducting a data analysis and report-writing workshop from 21st-31st May 2018 in Nadi, Fiji. This course aims to strengthen the capacity of five Pacific countries in the analysis of administrative data generated from civil registration systems. The course also aims at supporting the countries to identify systems weaknesses, and to derive strategies and practical solutions for systems improvement. The overall objective is to improve the quality and availability of evidence on the performance of civil registration systems and to make this data available for policy and planning purposes, where it meets a sufficient level of quality and completeness. Specifically the course will: Assist countries to complete a vital statistics report that illustrates the current levels and trends of births, deaths and causes-of-death as recorded by their civil registration systems; Assist countries to establish the level of completeness of their civil registration systems in regard to registration of live births, deaths and causes of death, Assist participants to build proficiency in key analytical, interpretational and presentationalskills required to meet regional, national and international reporting requirements; Assist participants to develop key skills to critically appraise their data collection systems and processes, and to identify key system weaknesses and practical solutions. Fifteen participants from the Civil Registration, Health and Statistics offices of Fiji, Tonga, Nauru, Niue, Cook Islands will attend the course. This course is one of an ongoing series being conducted for Pacific Island Countries and Territories under the auspices of BAG. Please refer to http://www.pacific-crvs.org/events for more information.

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Tuvalu: First Vital Statistics Report based on civil registration record published

Tuvalu has published its first report on civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) based on administrative records of births and deaths. The report written by Grace Alapati, statistician of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development of Tuvalu, and Mailita Tepanini, statistician of the Health Department of Tuvalu, provides statistics pertaining to live births and deaths that occurred in the country, and were captured in either the civil registration or health information system between 2012 and 2016. This report provides information on the status of the civil registration and health information system of Tuvalu, and underlines the need to strengthen the coverage and completeness of the civil registration system. This report is part of the commitments made by the Government of Tuvalu towards universal registration of births and deaths, legal identification, and production of vital statistics from registration records. The report was drafted by the Central Statistics Division of the Government of Tuvalu with the support of ESCAP. The support from ESCAP was made as part of a project to strengthen the National Capacity in Producing and Disseminating Vital Statistics funded by the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative.

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Fact sheet: Measuring SDG 16.9 in Tonga

This fact sheet on measuring Target 16.9 of the global sustainable development goals (SDGs) assesses the status of legal identification in the Kingdom of Tonga based on census data. It is estimated that almost one-in-three babies born world-wide each year do not have their births registered (there are 51 million babies). These children have no form of legal identity; they are not only invisible to their governments but also lack the means to claim important rights and privileges accrued through the possession of a means of legal identification. This has been referred to as the scandal of invisibility. Target 16.9 of the SDGs commits countries to providing a legal identity to all, including birth registration. In the Pacific the proportion of unregistered births is thought to be lower than the global average, but little definitive data exists. However, the Tonga 2016 Census of Population and Housing sought to establish the proportion of children (aged below 1 and below 5) whose births were registered, and those in possession of a legal identity; in form of a birth certificate and national identification card. The fact sheet covers different aspects of legal identity such as: Birth registration completeness Birth registration by island and village Limitations of the census data in estimating birth registration completeness Possession of a national identification card

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Vanuatu: First Vital Statistics Report based on civil registration record published

Vanuatu published its first vital statistics report based on administrative data. This report presents data and statistics on live births and deaths that occurred in Vanuatu between 2012 and 2014, drawn from civil registration and health records. This report is part of the commitments made by the Government of Vanuatu towards universal registration of births and deaths, legal identification, and production of vital statistics from registration records. The report was drafted by the Vanuatu Department of Health and Department of Statistics, namely Jimmy Tamkela Tomoyan, Social Statistics Officer, Department of Statistics, Rachel Takoa, Health Information System Manager, Department of Health, Lester Dingly, Health Information System Officer, Department of Health, and Vinau Sahe, Social Statistics Officer, Department of Statistics, with assistance from Gloria Mathenge and Karen Carter of SPC. Support from ESCAP was made as part of a project to strengthen the National Capacity in Producing and Disseminating Vital Statistics funded by the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative.

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CRVS Insight March 2018

Articles Philippines: 2018 Civil Registration Month Celebrations New World Bank publications on civil registration Events Seminar on National/International CRVS Best Practices, 09 April 2018, Islamabad, Pakistan Training of Trainers Workshop on CRVS eLearning Course, 10-19 April 2018, Windhoek, Namibia 74th Session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, 11-16 May 2018, Bangkok, Thailand *For other issues of the newsletter

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Matrix of activities

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Philippines: 2018 Civil Registration Month Celebrations

Every year since 1991 'February' is declared the Civil Registration Month (CRM) in the Philippines. For the month-long celebration, the Philippine Statistics Authority-Civil Registration Service (PSA-CRS) organizes together with the other nationwide PSA offices various activities. This year’s celebration focused on the continuous commitment of the PSA to deliver relevant and reliable statistics and efficient civil registration services to its clients and stakeholders. A wide range of activities were conducted during the month such as blood donations and CRVS Concepts and Procedures Training (CRVS 101) for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. A closing event with all stakeholders marked the end of the month's celebrations. The full report on all activities can be found here.