India close to achieving universal civil registration goal

India registered 92% births and deaths in 2019, against its target of achieving universal civil registration by 2020, according to the State Bank of India (SBI) Research.

This marked a significant progress from 56% births and 49% deaths registered respectively in 2000.

However, sharp regional differences were seen, with 11 states achieving 100% birth registrations and 15 states recording 100% deaths, the firm said in a report on Wednesday.


Overall, India saw 24.8 million births and 7.6 million deaths registered in 2019.

The report said a higher birth registration rate was seen compared to deaths as 81% births were institutional against 34.5% deaths, with the deceased not receiving any medical attention, reducing the probability of registration.

“This is important in the context of recent debate on measuring the Covid deaths in India through the civil registration system,” said SBI Research.

There have been media reports about under-reporting of Covid-19 deaths by some states during the second wave of the pandemic.

The SBI Research report also highlighted the need for better medical attention to improve disease profiling and saving lives by ramping up public health infrastructure and increasing the number of public healthcare professionals.

Registered deaths stood at 3.8 million in 2000, compared to an estimated 7.8 million, while the gap reduced to 700,000 in 2019, with 19 out of 36 states having zero gap, said the report.

Uttar Pradesh accounted for the highest figures on both counts with 5.1 million births or 21% of the national total and 12% of total registered deaths at 940,000 for that year.

Some states exhibited peculiar trends, as Sikkim, for instance, had 100% registered deaths and 61.2% registered births, said the report.

According to a birth and death rate analysis, SBI Research found that northeastern and eastern states were associated with higher births and lower deaths, indicating higher population growth.

Southern states showed the opposite trend, indicating slowing population growth, while data from northern, central and western India revealed mixed trends.