Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events (births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents.
The primary purpose of civil registration is to create a legal document (usually called a certificate) that can be used to establish and protect the rights of individuals.
The United Nations General Assembly in 1979 adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Article 16 of which requires countries to establish compulsory civil registration of marriages.
The United Nations defines civil registration as "the continuous, permanent, compulsory and universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events pertaining to the population as provided through decree or regulation in accordance with the legal requirements of a country.
Furthermore, in certain societies, due to stigmatisation based on cultural and religious settings, single mothers may fear questions of paternity during notification through chief or community agents.
"[6] Other challenges include accessibility of remote areas and also irregular migration caused by civil conflicts and porous borders.
[9] A family register is a civil registry used in many countries to track information of a genealogical or family-centric legal interest.
The system is called hojeok in South Korea and koseki in Japan, Familienbuch in Germany, hukou in China, hộ khẩu in Vietnam.
Use of government-sanctioned or administered family registers, while common in many European nations and in countries which use continental-style civil law (where the family or household is legally viewed as the fundamental unit of a nation), is nonetheless rare in English-speaking countries (for example, the closest equivalent in the United Kingdom is the electoral roll, which is organised by address, but it is limited in the amount of information recorded).
The systems of household registers in China, Korea and Japan date back to the Tang dynasty or Heian period or earlier, both since the seventh century.
In Namibia, civil registration mandate lies with the government through the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration, which has offices in all fourteen region of the country.
In 2017, Namibia, which has at least 22 birth and registration offices based within the maternity wards of hospitals across the country, launched its e-birth notification system.
In Burkina Faso, since 2015, a centralized civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system is being implemented by the non-governmental organization iCivil Africa.
The register is administered centrally by the Ministry of the Interior (SPF Intérieur / FOD Binnenlandse Zaken) and locally by Belgian municipalities and embassies.
Municipalities exchange information through a closed network at the end of each day to a nationwide database, which can be consulted by officials online.
This was a previous struggle that had come since the formation of the Civil Registry Association in 1895, a Masonic organization presented by its mentors as "a strong anti-clerical and antireligious stronghold".
In general, there is a civil registry office in each Portuguese province, and in the cities of Lisbon, Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia and Setubal there are eleven, four, two and two conservatories respectively.
[19] By the "Communal Law" (Legea comunală) of 31 March 1864 subsequent record keeping became the responsibility of the mayor in each dwelling, who was allowed to delegate it to one of his helpers.
[21] The current name for the official building where marriages, births and deaths are recorded is called Starea Civilă (Civil Status).
The Unified state register of acts of civil status (EGR ZAGS, Единый государственный реестр записей актов гражданского состояния –ЕГР ЗАГС) maintained by the Federal Tax Service of Russia began operations since October 1, 2018.
Both of this registers record names, surnames, births, deaths, marriages, divorces and other relevant data, and both of them are supervised by the Ministry of Justice, through the Directorate-General for the Registries and Notaries.
In the United Kingdom, civil registration was first introduced, in England and Wales, via the 1653 marriage act, which transferred the statutory duty of recording marriages, births and burials, established in 1538, from the established churches, to the civil authorities, with a justice of peace, rather than the parish priest required to maintain a register.
The local offices are generally responsible both for maintaining the original registers and for providing copies to the national body for central retention.
Certified copies of the entries made by the registrars over the years are issued on a daily basis either for genealogical research or for modern legal purposes such as supporting passport applications or ensuring eligibility for the appropriate junior sports leagues.
The General Register Office for Scotland has overall responsibility for registration administration and drafting legislative changes in this area (as well as census data).
They are governed by the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965 and subsequent legislation (responsibility for which has now been devolved to the Scottish Parliament).
In Mexico, vital records (birth, death and marriage certificates) are registered in the Registro Civil, as called in Spanish.
Until the 1960s, birth certificates were written by hand, in a styled, cursive calligraphy (almost unreadable for the new generations) and typically issued on security paper.
In Japan, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare counts the number of births, deaths, stillbirths, marriages and divorces throughout the year and publishes them as vital statistics annually.