Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) systems, in their capacities to record statistics about births, deaths, marriages, and other life events, have the potential to advance population health and human rights. Data from well-functioning systems provide vulnerable individuals with information documents that ensure fundamental protections and supply governments, policymakers, and researchers aggregate-level statistics for monitoring human development. As such, the United Nations (UN) has identified CRVS as a key resource to help countries reach several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This brief, part of the Select Topics in International Population and Health (STIPH) series, will introduce the myriad ways CRVS systems can promote population health and human rights, as well as the principles and practices recommended to advance and sustain them.

• This technical note is available in English and Arabic.