Vital Statistics (government Records)

Vital Statistics (government Records)

Vital statistics (sometimes referred to as vital rates) are the information maintained by a government, recording the birth and death of individuals within that government's jurisdiction. These data are used by public health programs to evaluate how effective their programs are. They are the cornerstone of public health systems today.

The origin of vital statistics begins as early as 1869 and death by social class was recorded in England beginning in 1921.

A useful by-product of birth and death registration are official certificates of those events. These certificates serve as prima facie evidence of that event.

Toronto scientist, professor Prabhat Jha argues that inexpensive recording of vital statistics in developing countries is the most effective means to improve global health and has outlined 5 options for expanding Cause of Death reporting.

However, other scientists stress the need for culturally valid methods of collecting vital statistics in order for these statistics to be truly helpful to the population at hand. In low-income countries, such as Brazil, vital statistic systems have been shown to drastically underreport infant and child mortality, catching merely 44.4% of actual deaths (as shown in Pacatuba, Brazil). An ethnographic study reveals the main cause of this massive underreporting to be a lack of cultural and societal understanding of death among those collecting data. In order to correct this error, methods of gathering mortality data need to be respectful of local death customs and must be implemented in places such as Pacutaba where death is experienced through a different cultural lens than the standard view of many North Americans. Although this approach may be more accurate, it could also be more difficult to implement as it faces possible opposition from politicians. Politicians may overreport or underreport infant mortality figures for perceived advantages such as international funding and reelection. Implementing more accurate vital statistic initiatives will be low on their priorities as it will most likely not benefit them. .

The agency responsible for overseeing this system in the United States is the National Center for Health Statistics, a division of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.