On day one of the Regional Consultations on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics

Participants underline the centrality of reliable data and its exchange

Amman, Jordan - 25 November 2019 - On the first day of the Regional Consultation on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics launched yesterday, the centrality of data on the Civil Registry and Vital Statistics was emphasized as a key pillar of various planning and development efforts at various levels.

The UNFPA Regional Director Dr Luay shabaneh, at the opening of the regional consultation, said that civil registration is an important tool to ensure that no one left behind, and an important tool in efforts to monitor the implementation of the SDGs, noting that a significant number of indicators under the population and development index are derived from Civil Registry.

Shabana added:” Civil registration and vital statistics are among the basic backups for countries going through humanitarian situations, and expressed hope that the current initiative of the project of civil registration and vital statistics will include all Arab countries.

For her part, Irina Dincu, Coordinator of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics project at the International Development Research Centre, said that this project is necessary to ensure that no one is excluded and the importance of counting everyone because everyone counts, we must know who they are and where they live and how to reach them. The ignorance of the presence of people makes us unable to solve the problems they face, their needs that how to respond to these needs.

There is a gender inequalities problem in obtaining data where not all data on females are recorded, for example the registration of female deaths, Dincu noted. She also addressed the dilemma of inability to communicate and disseminate data by government agencies involved in data collection.

Dr. Qassem Al Zoubi, Director General of the Department of Statistics in Jordan, discussed the importance of vital data and information, especially vital statistics, including births, deaths, marriage and divorce. Al-Zoubi added that these statistics are an integral part of the statistics produced by the statistical departments, which often used to calculate many important demographic indicators and those considered within the concept of social indicators.

Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Workshop continues in Amman as part of the framework of the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics project.

UNFPA Arab States Regional Office (ASRO), UNFPA Population and Development Branch at headquarters and Civil Registration and Vital statistics program at the International Development Research Center- MENA Regional Office are organizing the workshop.

This regional workshop brings together different stakeholders, National partners from Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan, UNFPA focal points, IDRC, and Regional partners including UN-ESCWA, WHO-EMRO and others to launch and coordinate the UNFPA-IDRC Project on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics with special attention on Gender dimension.

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For media inquiries:

UNFPA Amman: Khaled Al- Masri Cell: +962799691118, email:  al-masri@unfpa.org

International Development Research Center MENA Regional Office (IDRC): Dima Salameh Cell:+962799119911, email: dsalameh@idrc.ca