Civil registration and vital statistics play a key role in facilitating the monitoring of progress in the SDGs where they serve as a denominator for a wide range of demographic goals and indicators. These statistics are a source of continuous and up-to-date information on birth, death and population statistics. Arab countries have civil registration systems, but some are unable to produce vital statistics according to international standards and recommendations. This is largely due to incomplete or insufficient registration, limited capacity in some countries, as well as recent and ongoing conflicts and other emergencies in others.
However, in light of the regional preliminary assessments and in line with the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, there is still a need for a coordinated effort to improve civil registration and vital statistics systems in the Arab region. Member States have requested international and regional organizations to resume technical support and improve coordination between agencies at country levels in this area.
In this context, ESCWA’s Cluster on Statistics, the Information Society and Technology, in coordination and cooperation with the Center of Excellence for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems of the Canadian International Development Research Center (IDRC) and WHO Regional Office, is organizing a virtual workshop on developing a strategic framework on civil registration systems and vital statistics for the period (2021-2025) in the Arab countries on 14 June and 7 July 2021.
On its first day, the workshop aims to review the outlines of the draft strategy for improving civil registration and vital statistics systems for the period 2021-2025 in the Arab countries It will also discuss the questionnaire prepared by ESCWA aiming to collect data on civil registration systems in member countries to monitor progress made in the previous five years and development plans for the next five years, and ways to complete it to obtain the highest response from countries.
Amman, Jordan
