CRVS Systems stands for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems and represents the interoperability of three separate systems: Civil Registration, Health Information, and Vital Statistics.
The United Nations (UN) defines Civil Registration as: “The continuous, permanent, compulsory, and universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events (live births, deaths, fetal deaths, marriages, and divorces) and other civil status events pertaining to the population as provided by decree, law or regulation, in accordance with the legal requirements in each country.”
The primary purpose of Civil Registration is to establish the legal documents required by law. Civil Registration establishes the individual’s right to recognition as a person before the law and is the fundamental source of legally valid identity data used across government services.
Universal birth registration is enshrined in international human rights through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 7).
Civil Registration is a driver for accessing fundamental rights. Besides establishing a person’s legal identity from birth, such as name and date of birth, it also establishes legal family relations.
Civil Registration also enables states to fulfill the obligations they have contracted when ratifying human rights instruments that specifically guarantee such rights. For example, in the absence of exercising the right to legally identity through birth registration, other rights such as the right to education, health, and social protection might be significantly hampered, particularly for women and girls.
Health Information Systems capture, store, manage, or transmit information related to the health of individuals or the activities of organizations that work within the health sector.
The UN defines Vital Statistics as: “The collection of statistics on vital events in a lifetime of a person as well as relevant characteristics of the events themselves and of the person and persons concerned. Vital Statistics provide crucial and critical information on the population in a country.” The vital events of interest are: live births, adoptions, legitimations, recognitions; deaths and fetal deaths; and marriages, divorces, separations, and annulments of marriage.
The functioning of the three systems depend on a series of common elements that include, but are not limited to: training, assessments and evaluations, identity management, data security and privacy, information and communications technology, etc.
Why CRVS systems matter
High-quality, permanent and continuous Civil Registration/Vital Statistics (CR/VS) systems provide many benefits to individuals, nations, regions and communities:
For the individual, birth registration is needed to obtain a legal document that proves their identity, their name, sex, legal parents' names, and date and place of birth. That document may be necessary to vote, marry or secure employment. In some countries, it may be needed to obtain a driver’s licence, open a bank account, have access to social security or a pension, obtain insurance or a line of credit, and, significantly, be able to register one’s own children. It is also vitally important for securing inheritance
In many countries, births, marriages, divorces, and deaths are not universally or routinely registered, and the causes of death are not documented. It is estimated that the births of nearly one-quarter of children under the age of 5 worldwide have never been recorded. This means that people lack the documents they need to prove their identity to get access to basic services. Women and girls face unique barriers, including laws in some countries that require the signature of a husband or father on official registration documents.
For the nation, effective CRVS systems are essential for accurately planning programs to promote the wellbeing citizens. That includes demographic analyses of statistics, which are essential for planning social development, including the design and implementation of public health measures, maternal and child care, family planning, social security, education, housing and economic development. CRVS systems permit the production of statistics on population dynamics, health, and inequities in service delivery, providing more accurate information for assessing progress in improving economic growth and reducing poverty.
The data generated by Civil Registration systems can also be used to track progress toward 12 of the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals related to education, economic growth, employment, health, and disabilities.