The civil registry is the system by which a government records the vital events (births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even different states in the US It may be called a civil registry (but it is also an official term for an individual file) but also the office responsible for receiving the records can be called a vital statistics office, vital records and statistics office, registrar, registry, registry office (official registry office) or population registry.
The main purpose of civil registration is to create a legal document that can be used to establish and protect the rights of individuals. A second purpose is to create a data source for the compilation of vital statistics.
In most countries, there is a legal requirement to notify the relevant authority of certain life events, such as births, marriages, and death. The first country to establish a national population register was France in 1539, using the registers of the Catholic Church. Sweden followed in 1631, based on a record drawn up by the Church of Sweden on behalf of the Swedish king.
The United Nations defines civil registration as "the continuous, permanent, mandatory and universal registration of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events belonging to the population as provided by decree or regulation in accordance with the legal requirements of a country, mainly for the purpose of establishing the legal documents required by law. These records are also a primary source of vital statistics. Complete coverage, accuracy and timeliness of the civil registry are essential to ensure the quality of vital statistics ”.
The vital events that are generally recorded in the civil registry include birth, death, stillbirth, name, name change, marriage, divorce, marriage annulment, legal separation of marriage, adoption, legitimation and recognition. Among the legal documents derived from civil registration are birth certificates, death certificates, and marriage certificates. A family registry is a type of civil registry that deals more with events within the family unit and is common in continental European and Asian countries such as Germany, France, Spain, Russia (Propiska), China (Hukou), Japan (Koseki) and North and South Korea (Hoju).
Also, in some countries, immigration, emigration and any change of residence may require notification. A resident registry is a type of civil registry primarily related to current residence.
