Topics and themes to be covered in a vital statistics system

The list of topics included in the global recommendations for vital statistics systems are derived from national experiences. At the country level, there is a need to meet both national needs and international standards when selecting the topics and themes to be included in the country’s vital statistics system. Since the international standards are derived from national experiences, these two sets of criteria are rarely incompatible. Sometimes, a country may need to collect data in more detail than necessary in order to meet international comparison objectives. In such cases, the data can be collected in such a way as to permit them to be collapsed into categories appropriate to the international standards.

Related Subject(s): Economic and Social Development