Civil registration and vital Civil registration and vital statistics systems in South statistics systems in South

AfricaAfrica

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Outline of presentation

Availability of vital statistics

Legal framework

Civil registration

Acquiring data on divorces

Process flows

Dissemination of information

Challenges

Key stakeholders

Strategic targets

Concluding remarks

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Availability of vital statistics Available statistics

Live births

Foetal deaths (stillbirths)

Deaths

Marriages

Divorces

Not available (or not processed) Annulments

Judicial separations

Adoptions

Legitimations

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Legal framework

Births, deaths and stillbirths Department of Home Affairs

Births and deaths registration Act (Act No. 51 of 1992)

Marriages Department of Home Affairs

Marriage Act (Act No. 25 of 1961)

Divorces Department of Justice and Constitutional Development

Divorce Act (Act No. 70 of 1979)

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Civil registration system (1)

Births registration Department of Home Affairs

To be registered within 30 days of birth Between 30 days and 1 year

Between 1 year and 14 years

15 years and older

No registration of birth is done for a person who dies before notice of birth has been given

A forename and a surname are required for registration

Birth outside the country: notice given to the head of SA diplomatic or consular mission, or a regional representative in SA

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Civil registration system (2)

Death registration Department of Home Affairs Natural cause: to be registered as soon as practicable by a

person present at death, or who became aware of the death, or who has charge of the burial concerned

− Medical practitioners/professional nurses Other than natural cause: Refer to a police officer (Inquests

Act, 1959)− District surgeon/forensic pathologists

Death outside SA: Death certificate or other similar document issued by the authority concerned in the country in which the death occurred required to register the death in SA

No burial takes place unless notice of the death has been given and burial order provided

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Civil registration system (3)

Stillbirth registration Department of Home Affairs

At least 26 weeks of gestation

Natural cause: medical practitioner present or who examined corpse shall certify the death; any person present at the still-birth makes the declaration of the still-birth

Any doubt if the child was stillborn: report to a police officer

No burial takes place unless notice of stillbirth has been given and burial order provided

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Civil registration system (4)

Improvements in birth and death registration Main stakeholders:

− Department of Home Affairs

− Department of Health

− Department of Social Development

Activities:

− Registration at the Department of Home Affairs offices

− On-line registration at selected hospitals

− Mobile trucks to access hard-to-reach areas

− Mobilisation by Department of Social Development for birth registration required for the up-take of child support grant for the poor

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Civil registration system (5)

Marriages Department of Home Affairs (DHA)

Civil marriages – undertaken by licensed marriage officers (DHA officials or priests)

Offices of the DHA, chapels or religious buildings

Customary marriages: Recognition of Customary Marriages Act

Stats SA in the process of acquiring data on registered customary marriages

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Acquiring data on divorces

Department of Justice and Constitutional Development through its divorce courts

Stats SA designed a form requiring provision of information from divorcees after divorce decree has been granted

Population group Age at time of divorce Occupation at time of divorce Marital status at time of marriage Duration of marriage Number of times married Solemnisation of present marriage Matrimonial property system Number of minor children involve (age, sex)

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Process flow – births and marriages

Department of Home Affairs(DHA) captures data

DHA makes data availableon main frame

Data downloaded via ftp / Collected from SITA

Data editing

Data analysis andreport writing

Dissemination of report

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Process flow – divorces

Divorce forms received through the post

Sorting forms by year of divorce and court name

Data capturing of all variables on the form

Data editing

Data analysis andreport writing

Dissemination of report

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Process flow: deaths and stillbirths

Collection Pasting

Export to Editing

DataAnalysis

STORES

Sorting

Data Editing

Publication &Dissemination

Pre-codingData Capture

& QA Coding

Derivation0f UCD

Data Capture(ID variables)

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Dissemination

Annual statistical releases Hard copies

CD containing unit records of data for: Marriages and divorces Deaths and stillbirths

Statistical releases and data published on the web: www.statssa.gov.za

Special tables provided on request

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Challenges – births and marriages No control over collection of information

(registration and completion of forms)

No control over data processing Cannot undertake quality assurance at different stages of

data processing

No access to original forms No way of verifying or investigating non-plausible cases

Not all variables are made available to Statistics South Africa

Limited variables for in-depth analysis

Late or non-registration of births

Registration of customary marriages

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Challenges – divorces

There are several courts that deal with divorce cases and no central point for collection of the forms

Shortage of questionnaire in courts

No control over completion of forms Non-response to certain questions

Return of questionnaires by clients Through the post office which results in delays or forms getting

lost

Inability to determine complete coverage of granted divorces

Use court rolls – not all courts send their court rolls Initiative of the DoJCD in collaboration with DHA and STATS SA to

develop a tool for recording cases

Mistakes introduced by capturing

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Challenges – deaths and stillbirths No control over collection of information

(registration and completion of forms)

No control over completion of forms Data subject to content errors and omissions E.g. information on education, occupation, industry, place-

name, population group incomplete and therefore limits analysis

Under registration of deaths particularly among children and those in the rural areas

Misreporting and insufficient reporting of causes of death on the death notification forms

Late registration of deaths

Time-lag between the event, registration and publication of information

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Late registrations

Year of death

Number of deaths

published in June 2007

Additional forms received in the

2007/8 processing phase

Total number of deaths (by July 2008)

1997 316 507 52 316 559

1998 365 053 56 365 109

1999 380 982 55 381 037

2000 414 530 238 414 768

2001 453 404 105 453 509

2002 499 925 157 500 082

2003 553 718 481 554 199

2004 572 350 270 572 620

2005 591 213 2 124 593 337

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Challenges – general

Dependence on other departments for data

Limited information for in-depth analysis on births, deaths, marriages and divorces

Non-compliance with legislation governing registration on the side of the public

Inability to provide information at geographic levels lower than province

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Key stakeholders

Department of Home Affairs

Department of Justice and Constitutional Development

Department of Health

Department of Social Development

South African Social Security Agency

Department of Provincial and Local Government

Family and Marriage Society of South Africa

Research and academic institutions

UN agencies

Statistical agencies from other countries

Business community

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Strategic targets

Collaboration and statistical partnership with suppliers

Building capacity to collect (and process where applicable) quality information

Participate in initiatives on increasing registration coverage

Integrate systems, to enable timely access and proper tracking of information

Process management Integrated storage management system that electronically

tracks received forms across all series

Automate - for timeliness and accuracy

Review and revamp all series - to improve content, quality and presentation of reports

Document procedures and guidelines for processing various series - to enable standard application of procedures

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Concluding remarks

Civil registration improving in South Africa Live births – 81% (2007); Deaths – 83% (2006) Improvements required for completeness of registration

and complete and accurate completion of forms Concerted effort by all stakeholders, including the public,

required

Statistics produced depend on the quality of input data, and the need for enhanced efforts to register vital events.

Wider use of the data leads to improvements in the quality of the data over time.

Statistics South Africa: Statistics South Africa: http://www.statssa.gov.za

1. Ntebaleng Chobokoane (Executive Manager: Health 1. Ntebaleng Chobokoane (Executive Manager: Health and Vital Statistics)and Vital Statistics)NtebalengC@statssa.gov.za

2. Maletela Tuoane-Nkhasi (Manager: Births and Deaths)2. Maletela Tuoane-Nkhasi (Manager: Births and Deaths)MaletelaT@statssa.gov.za

3. Susanna Ubomba-Jaswa (Manager: Marriages and 3. Susanna Ubomba-Jaswa (Manager: Marriages and Divorces)Divorces)SusannaUJ@statssa.gov.za

Department of Home AffairsDepartment of Home Affairs: : http://www.dha.gov.za

1. Thomas Sigama (Director: National Population Register)1. Thomas Sigama (Director: National Population Register)Thomas.Sigama@dha.gov.za

Contact details