Essay on the History of Registration of Vital Statistics in Census

The history of the registration of vital statistics is a fairly long one. In earlier times, the registration births and deaths in most European countries were done by the other religious bodies.

In the fifteenth century, the bishop Toledo introduced registers for the recording of vital events.

In the middle Ages, the registration of vital events among Christians births, marriages and deaths was the responsibility of the ecclesiastical authorities, for, baptisms, weddings and burials were always within the jurisdiction of the Christian Church. This fact ensured the registration of such vital events by the Christian Church.

In 1538, by an order of Thomas Cromwell, the clergy of England was required to record baptisms, weddings and burials. By 1608, the first systematic parish register was established in Sweden, to be followed by similar registers in Canada (1610), Finland (1628) and Denmark (1648).

Though systematically maintained, such records had some inherent drawbacks. The coverage of ecclesiastical records was limited to particular religious groups and hence was not complete with respect to the entire population.

The quality of these records also suffered, as the ceremonies of baptisms, weddings and burials, rather than biological or social events, such as births, deaths and marriages, were recorded.

The credit for introducing the system of registration of births, deaths and marriages under civil authorities independent of the Church or other religious authorities goes to the Incas of Peru.

Later, in the seventeenth century, civil registration was introduced in the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and New Plymouth in the United States.

In these civil systems, registration was under the charge of government clerks and the events of births, deaths and marriages were recorded rather than the ceremonies associated with these events. Thus began the process of secularization of vital registration.

The impetus to this trend to secularisation of vital events was given when the Napoleonic Code was adopted in France in 1804. This Code was concerned with the individual’s “legal and civil rights.”

Civil rights could be granted by the State and the proof of one’s claim to such rights was dependent on official registration.

The certificates of births, deaths and marriages, which were issued to the concerned persons when the events were reported and recorded, provided the necessary proof. This is an important landmark in the history of vital registration.

Later in the nineteenth century, several countries in Western Europe and South America adopted the system of civil registration where the responsibility for the registration of vital events rested with the national government.

Exact provisions were made regarding who should report the event, when it should be reported, who should record it and what should be the contents of the records.

Until 1662, vital records were not used for statistical purposes. In 1662, however, John Graunt, the English researcher, perceived the possibility of utilising the statistics collected by parishes to study the mortality rate in London.

His monumental work, Natural and Political Observation, Observations made upon the Bills) Mortality, popularly known as the Observations, incorporated the first modern use of the study of mortality, fertility and migration, European countries, such as Germany and France, also started making use of vital registration for the study of population.

In 1839, Dr. William Farr became “Compiler of Abstracts” in the newly- created General Register Office of England. He devoted 40 years of his service to the development of a national system of vital statistics.

As a result, several studies on mortality and health conditions in England could be conducted, and the attention of the English people was drawn to many health problems.

This resulted in the adoption of various measures to improve health conditions in England. Many other countries also adopted the vital registration system developed by William Farr.

Today, the registration of vital events has become a system which is regarded as continuous, current, compulsory and permanent recording system of vital event and their characteristics.

This system is primarily valuable for providing legal documents. It is also extremely useful as a source of statistics for the study of population.

Uses of Registration of Vital Events and Vital Statistics to the Individual: After a vital event is reported and registered, a certificate is issued to the person concerned.

For instance, after a birth is reported and registered, a birth certificate is prepared for the parents or guardians. Such a certificate is useful as a legal document having evidentiary value.

In a modern complex society, an evidentiary document, such as a birth certificate, a death cer­tificate, a marriage certificate, etc. is absolutely essential, as a person is required to establish his/her identity, his/her rights of citizenship and nationality and his/her place in the society, espe­cially with respect to his/her privileges and duties as a member of that society.

Such a document is looked upon as a significant record proving the fact, the time and the place of occurrence of a vital event.

The establishment of the identity of an individual, that is, the Proof of the fact of his/her birth, is one of the most important uses of a birth certificate. As the individual’s date of birth is recorded birth certificate, it is the best proof of his age.

The birth certificate is also useful in establishing a person’s nationality or “citizenship for obtaining a passport. It is, moreover, a legal proof establishing family relationships, and is especially useful for questions of inheritance or insurance claims.

A death is required for the disposal of a dead body. It is also tired for settling questions of inheritance or insurance claims.

A marriage certificate is useful for establishing the marital status of a person and the legitimacy of the children born of a marriage.