How reliable are self-reported estimates of birth registration completeness? Comparison with vital statistics systems.

<h4>Background</h4>The widely-used estimates of completeness of birth registration collected by Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and published by UNICEF primarily rely on registration status of children as reported by respondents. However...

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Main Authors: Tim Adair, Alan D Lopez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252140
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spelling doaj-25492023427544728145cb1d68490f842021-06-19T05:30:04ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01166e025214010.1371/journal.pone.0252140How reliable are self-reported estimates of birth registration completeness? Comparison with vital statistics systems.Tim AdairAlan D Lopez<h4>Background</h4>The widely-used estimates of completeness of birth registration collected by Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and published by UNICEF primarily rely on registration status of children as reported by respondents. However, these self-reported estimates may be inaccurate when compared with completeness as assessed from nationally-reported official birth registration statistics, for several reasons, including over-reporting of registration due to concern about penalties for non-registration. This study assesses the concordance of self-reported birth registration and certification completeness with completeness calculated from civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems data for 57 countries.<h4>Methods</h4>Self-reported estimates of birth registration and certification completeness, at ages less than five years and 12-23 months, were compiled and calculated from the UNICEF birth registration database, DHS and MICS. CRVS birth registration completeness was calculated as birth registrations reported by a national authority divided by estimates of live births published in the United Nations (UN) World Population Prospects or the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study. Summary measures of concordance were used to compare completeness estimates.<h4>Findings</h4>Birth registration completeness (based on ages less than five years) calculated from self-reported data is higher than that estimated from CRVS data in most of the 57 countries (31 countries according to UN estimated births, average six percentage points (p.p.) higher; 43 countries according to GBD, average eight p.p. higher). For countries with CRVS completeness less than 95%, self-reported completeness was higher in 26 of 28 countries, an average 13 p.p. and median 9-10 p.p. higher. Self-reported completeness is at least 30 p.p. higher than CRVS completeness in three countries. Self-reported birth certification completeness exhibits closer concordance with CRVS completeness. Similar results are found for self-reported completeness at 12-23 months.<h4>Conclusions</h4>These findings suggest that self-reported completeness figures over-estimate completeness when compared with CRVS data, especially at lower levels of completeness, partly due to over-reporting of registration by respondents. Estimates published by UNICEF should be viewed cautiously, especially given their wide usage.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252140
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Tim Adair
Alan D Lopez
spellingShingle Tim Adair
Alan D Lopez
How reliable are self-reported estimates of birth registration completeness? Comparison with vital statistics systems.
PLoS ONE
author_facet Tim Adair
Alan D Lopez
author_sort Tim Adair
title How reliable are self-reported estimates of birth registration completeness? Comparison with vital statistics systems.
title_short How reliable are self-reported estimates of birth registration completeness? Comparison with vital statistics systems.
title_full How reliable are self-reported estimates of birth registration completeness? Comparison with vital statistics systems.
title_fullStr How reliable are self-reported estimates of birth registration completeness? Comparison with vital statistics systems.
title_full_unstemmed How reliable are self-reported estimates of birth registration completeness? Comparison with vital statistics systems.
title_sort how reliable are self-reported estimates of birth registration completeness? comparison with vital statistics systems.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2021-01-01
description <h4>Background</h4>The widely-used estimates of completeness of birth registration collected by Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and published by UNICEF primarily rely on registration status of children as reported by respondents. However, these self-reported estimates may be inaccurate when compared with completeness as assessed from nationally-reported official birth registration statistics, for several reasons, including over-reporting of registration due to concern about penalties for non-registration. This study assesses the concordance of self-reported birth registration and certification completeness with completeness calculated from civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems data for 57 countries.<h4>Methods</h4>Self-reported estimates of birth registration and certification completeness, at ages less than five years and 12-23 months, were compiled and calculated from the UNICEF birth registration database, DHS and MICS. CRVS birth registration completeness was calculated as birth registrations reported by a national authority divided by estimates of live births published in the United Nations (UN) World Population Prospects or the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study. Summary measures of concordance were used to compare completeness estimates.<h4>Findings</h4>Birth registration completeness (based on ages less than five years) calculated from self-reported data is higher than that estimated from CRVS data in most of the 57 countries (31 countries according to UN estimated births, average six percentage points (p.p.) higher; 43 countries according to GBD, average eight p.p. higher). For countries with CRVS completeness less than 95%, self-reported completeness was higher in 26 of 28 countries, an average 13 p.p. and median 9-10 p.p. higher. Self-reported completeness is at least 30 p.p. higher than CRVS completeness in three countries. Self-reported birth certification completeness exhibits closer concordance with CRVS completeness. Similar results are found for self-reported completeness at 12-23 months.<h4>Conclusions</h4>These findings suggest that self-reported completeness figures over-estimate completeness when compared with CRVS data, especially at lower levels of completeness, partly due to over-reporting of registration by respondents. Estimates published by UNICEF should be viewed cautiously, especially given their wide usage.
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252140
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