Vital Registration System

Vital Registration System is another major source of population statics. It is also called events registration systems. Various vital events such as birth, death, marriage, divorce, migration,etc related with human's life are going on during the life time. Vital Registration System is concerned with those events of births, deaths, marriage, divorce, migration, etc which are reported to the appropriate authorities, and the events are registered. The process of collecting or keeping record of such vital events regularly by concerned authorities is called vital registration. 

According to UN; Vital Registration is the legal registration, statistical recoding and reporting of occurrence of, and the collection, compilation, presentation, analysis and distribution of statistics pertaining of vital events, ie; live births, deaths, foetal deaths, marriages, divorce, abortions, legitimations, recognition, annulment and legal separation. 

In vital registration system, while registering birth events; date of birth, sex of the baby, age of mother, the residence of the mother, order of the birth, etc. are registered. Likewise, for death events; date of death occurrence, age and sex of the deceased, place of occurrence, usual residence of the deceased person, cause of death etc. are registered. In terms of martial status; age, single, sex, married, divorce, date of marriage, duration of marriage, etc. are registered. For migration; place of origin, place of destination, age, sex of migrants, cause of  migration etc. are registered. 

Vital Registration System was started from European countries in the sixteenth century. At that time the Roman Catholic Churches had made system to register and keep the records of births, deaths and marriage were kept in church. This system is supposed to have started in the countries like Britain, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden in sixteenth century. In this regard, a law that compelled to register vital events was enforced in 1836. In USA, it has been started from 1919. In Nepal, the system of registering the events of life started in 2019 BS. 

It is a regular and continuous registration of vital events. Civil registration system, which record's birth, deaths , marriages etc. ( vital statistics ), enables rates of population growth to be calculated; but are much less adequate than the national censuses. In developing countries where illiteracy rates are high and communication are poor, the problem of recording births and deaths are immense not only in rural population but also in urban areas. However, efforts are being made to improve the collection of these data in many countries.

Importance of Vital Registration System 

It is a regular and continuous registration of vital events so can be used to fulfil the scarcity of demographic statistical data of the nation. Civil registration system, which records births, deaths, marriage etc. enables rates of population growth to be calculated. Importance of vital registration system can be highlighted as; 

* It can fulfil the statistical data between two consecutive censuses. 

* Certificate of registration gets legality in the events of life. 

* It can be act as the reliable source required for formulation and implementation of population policies of nation and health, education, nutrition etc. program along with other social welfare programme.

* It can be used to improve the health status of people by implementation of the civil health programme and help in effective evaluation such programme. 

* It can be used to measure the natural increase of population and population dynamisms of the country.

Uses of Vital Registration 

The uses of Vital Registration System are; 

* Current situation of populatiob dynamics. 

* Natural change as well as total change in population size.

* Social mobility, change in status from single to married. 

* Current level and trends of demographic  drivers. 

* Birth certificate, marriage certificate and such others.

Limitation/ Drawbacks of Vital Registration 

Thought it is the most important source of population statistics but it is not free from shortcomings, which are listed below; 

* Information obtained are limited  as it is prepared for administrative purpose only. 

* In developing countries where illiteracy rates are high and communication are poor, the problem of recording births and deaths are immense so data obtained are not reliable.

* It is not effective for the countries with geographical difficulties and lack of transportation facilities. 

* It is effective only for developed countries but not for developing countries.

* As the data collected are not analysed, published and distributed regularly due to which data are not considered much more useful. 

Some measure to Upgrade Vital Registration System 

Though Vital Registration System is the most effective source of population data in developed countries and but in developing countries like Nepal, India, Bhutan, Pakistan, etc. Where illiteracy rates are high and communication are poor, this system doesn't become effective though implemented. In this regard following are some measure to upgrade this methods: 

* Concept of registration the vital events should be developed in the people.

* Separate institution should be managed for registering the vital events. 

* The knowledge of advantages of registering the vital events should be given to the people. 

* Well-trained manpower should be managed for vital registration. 

* Local vital registration officer should be presents regularly.