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VITAL STATISTICS BULLETIN – 2003

 Introduction 

Demographic data generated by a complete and efficient Civil Registration System is of immense use for  Successful planning  in  the area of population   control and  public health administration. The objectives of  civil Registration System  are two fold.   Registration of birth/death is the first step providing unique identity   to  a  person. Registration  is a public  service provided by the Government through which the public  can  obtain birth/death certificate  having multifarious  user to them in the form of evidence  of age, domicile, inheritance etc .Data consolidated from the civil registration system play  a vital role  in decentralized planning.  They are the basic tools, at local level,  used by demographers and planners for monitoring population  growth and efficiency of health care  measures.

The registration o f births and deaths is a statutory activity performed under the provisions of Registration of Birth and Death  Act 1969 came into force in Kerala  on 1st April 1970. Director of Panchayaths  is  the  Chief Registrar of Birth  and Deaths in Kerala and  is the Chief  executive authority for  implementing the provisions  of the Registration of Birth and Death Act. Chief Registrar will be assisted by a Deputy Chief Registrar.  The Additional Director of Economics and Statistics is designated as the Additional  Chief Registrar’ of Births and Deaths .  A Deputy Chief Registrar, Deputy Director of Economics and Statistics ,assists him .  At the District level, the District Panchayaths Officer, secretaries of municipalities and corporations are empowered as the District Registrar of Births  and Deaths.

The Secretaries of Grama Panchayaths, health inspectors and health officers of Municipalities and Corporations and the executive officer of Kannur Cantonment are the local Registrar of the concerned registration units.

This  bulletin presents the results of the analysis of vital statistics for the year 2003.

Conceptual and Empirical Frame Work 

According to Registration of Birth and Death Act, births and deaths are to be registered with in 21 days after the occurrence of the events at the place of occurrence.  The details such as date of event, date of registration, sex and the details of father and mother such as their age, religion, literacy, occupation, order of birth etc of each  event are recorded in the registers at the time of registration. These details are carried over to the prescribed birth, death and still birth cards and are forwarded to the Deputy  Directors of the Districts Offices of Economics and Statistics Department.  After data entry, the CDs are forwarded to Directorate. These are processed and analysed. 

Limitations of the data 

Registration of vital events is not complete due to under registration.  Lack of awareness about the need and importance  of registration of births  and deaths and lack of registration procedure knowledge among the public may be the reasons for the low levels of registration particularly of infant deaths. This may adversely affect the quality of the statistical data. Efforts are being taken to create mass awareness about the importance and necessity of registration.  More over it is seen that the vital events in urban area  are higher than that in rural area. Shifting of the residents in rural area to urban area for availing the modern medical facilities at the time of occurrence of events may be the reason for the above. 

Vital rates 

Birth rate -  Birth rate is defined as the number of births per thousand (mid year population) 

Death rate -  Death rate is the number of deaths  per thousand (mid year population) 

Infant death rate - Infant death rate is the number of infant death (age below one year)per thousand

                live births of the concerned year

Maternal death rate –Maternal death rate  is defined as the number of maternal deaths per thousand 

                live births and still births of the year.

Still birth rate —Still birth rate is the number of still births per thousand live births and still births

                of the year. 

Birth and Birth rate  

             During the year under report ,5.58 lakhs  of registered  live births  comprising  of 2.18lakhs rural births and 3.40 lakhs urban births were analysed . Out of which  51.27% were male births  and 48.73% were female births . The number of registered live births decreased from 5.82 lakhs in 2002 to 5.58 lakhs  in 2003 showing a marginal decrease of 4.12%. 

The birth rate of the state during 2003 was 17.16 as against 18.05 in the previous year.  The district-wise birth and death rates are presented in Table I.  The highest birth rate 22.13 was recorded in Malapuram District, which shows a decreasing trend when compared with those  of the previous  years.  The lowest rate of 13.16 was recorded in Alleppey District.  Birth rates recorded in Thrissur, Malapppuram, Kozhikkode, Wayanad, Kannur, and Kasaragod districts were greater than  that of the state average. 

Death and Death rate  

During the year 2003 1.94 lakhs death cards were received from the registering units and were analysed.  The death rate f the state was calculated as 5.97. An  analysis of the district-wise figures reveals that Pathanamthitta District stands first with a death rate of 7.67 and Malappuram has the lowest of 4.20.  Death rates recorded in Kollam, Malappuraam, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod were below the state average. 

Infant Death Rate 

Infant death reported during 2003 was 2459 as against 3223 in the previous year.  Infant death rate of the state during the relavent year was 4.40 with a rural-urban breake up of  1.05 and 6.56 respectively.  The highest rate 11.97 was recorded in Thiruvananthapuram district and lowest 1.37 in Kottayam District.
 

 Maternal Death Rate 

             During  the reporting year, 133 maternal deaths were reported, of which 54 were from rural areas aand 79 from urban areas.  The rates estimated were 0.25 and 0.23 respectively for rural and urban areas and 0.24 for the state as a whole.  No maternal deaths were reported from the rural areas of Pathanamthitta, Thrissur, Palaghat and from the urban areas of Kottayam and  Wayanad Districts.

 

Still birth 

Still births  registered during 2003 were 2253 in which 453 were from rural and 1800 from urban areas.  The estimated still birth rate of the state for the year under report was 4.02  as against 4.90 of the  previous year.  District-wise break up reveals that the highest rate 0.57 was recorded in Kottayam District and the lowest 0.09  in Kasaargod District.

 

Conclusion 

               During the year under report Malappuram District has the highest birth rate as well as the lowest death rate.  On an analysis, it is seen that the estimated vital rates, such as Birth rate, Still birth rate and Infant death rate show a marginal decrease where as Death rate and Maternal death rate  show a  marginal increase when compared to those of the previous year, 2002.  As in previous years, the vital rates estimated for urban areas are higher than that for rural areas .The registration is defacto and tendency of utilising the modern medical facilities  available in the urban areas by the rural residents at the time of occurance of events may be the reasons for the urban bias.


Vital rates at a Glance

Year

Birth Rate

Death Rate

Infant death rate

Still Birth rate

Maternal Death rate

1991

19.08

5.37

11.32

6.08

0.09

1992

17.67

5.49

9.84

5.29

0.03

1993

17.67

5.38

10.48

5.05

0.02

1994

17.52

5.38

10.41

5.14

0.06

1995

18.09

5.28

10.15

5.72

0.07

1996

18.76

5.51

9.53

5.14

0.11

1997

19.19

5.25

9.07

5.18

0.13

1998

18.43

5.79

9.00

4.65

0.12

1999

18.32

5.73

8.27

5.25

0.00

2000

18.01

5.42

7.10

6.43

0.02

2001

18.13

5.70

5.43

4.65

0.01

2002

18.05

5.73

5.54

4.90

0.13

2003

17.16

5.97

4.02

4.40

0.24



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