1. Sample Registration System in India – An Overview.
Prince Mahidol Award Conference, Bangkok, Jan, 2010
Sample Registration System in India – An Overview.
Prasanta Mahapatra,
Institute of Health Systems, Hyderabad, India

2. Sources of vital statistics in India and their usability.
Source & Periodicity
Estimated Parameters
Small area estimates
Usability
SRS
Annual, Since 1970
Fertility & Mortality Indicators
State level est. for big states, recently, intra state regions .
Representative sample, Regular reports, Reliable.
Census
10 Years
Pop. count by age sex, area, IMR & Child Mortality
Population count down to village level, Mortality: District level.
Reliable & valid pop. Data in ab. 2 years. Ab 8 yr lag for indirect est. of Fert. & Mort.
CRS
An, 1958
District level and large cities with pop.
Death reg <50%, Wide interstate variation. Av time to publication 45 months until 1994, no reports since then.
NFHS
6 Years I:92-93, II:98-99, III:05-06
Fertility & IMR (Indirect Estimates)
State level estimates
Indirect estimates. Quick est available within a year. Small sample size.
GHIF 2010, Ssn1.4
P. Mahapatra: SRS in India An Overview

3. P. Mahapatra: SRS in India An Overview
SRS Sample Units
Replacement Period
Rural
Urban
Total
2432
1290
3722
3684
1738
5422
4176
1846
6022
4436
2235
6671
2004
4433
3164
7597
GHIF 2010, Ssn1.4
P. Mahapatra: SRS in India An Overview

4. Statistics available from SRS
Information
Statistics
Availability & Location
Population Distribution
Pop by 5Y age sex groups, 0-4 to 70+ until 1994 and to 85+ since 1995
Table-1 in all annual reports from 1970.
Fertility
Population by marital status
From 1992 as Table-2
Age sp. & marital fertility rates
Table-3 since 93. Earlier T2-4
Age sp. fertility rates by education
From 1996 as Table-4
Birth-order & birth-interval wise distribution of births
From 1990, Tables 4,5&6 until 95. Later Tables 5,6&7
Mortality
Age Sp. Death Rates by 0, 1-4, and 5Y age groups from 5-9 upto 70+ 0r 85+
Table-8 since 1996.
Earlier Table 4, 5 or 7
Mortality indicators: Crude Death Rate, Child Mortality, IMR etc.
Table-9 since 1996.
Earlier 3, 4, 5, 8 or 9.
% distribution of deaths by age.
Since 1997, Table-10
Access to Medical Care
Medical attention at birth
Statements (St) 25, 30, 31, 34, 35, 38, 39 or 40.
Medical attention at death
St 42,44,47,48,51,53, or
GHIF 2010, Ssn1.4
P. Mahapatra: SRS in India An Overview

5. Evaluations of SRS in India
Dates
Study Design
Findings
Ref.
Indirect estimate (Brass 1975)
6% under reporting of adult deaths
RGI, 1982
Indirect est. (Brass 1975; Preston & Coale 1980)
10% under reporting of deaths. Insignificant interstate variations. Excluded Bihar & West bengal for poor data quality.
Bhat et al. 1984
1978
Indirect est. (P/F ratios, UN 1983, Ch-II)
6% under reporting of births. State underestimates in 1978 ranged from <1% (Guj) to >17% (KA)
RGI 1984, Swamy et al. 1992
Intensive inquiry of 10% subsample
3% under estimation of birth and death rates. State underestimates around 1% (Guj, Har, MP) to 11% (KA)
Grover 1988; Swamy et al
State underestimates, <1% (AP, BI, Guj, KE, MP,, MH, OR, TN) to >3% (AS, WB)
Swamy et al …
Comparison of SRS with NFHS fertility est.
At least 10% under registration of births.
Narasimhan et al. 1997
GHIF 2010, Ssn1.4
P. Mahapatra: SRS in India An Overview

6. Completeness of death registration by the Indian SRS from 1990-2007.
Year AP MH OR UP
India
1990
0.67
0.68
0.83
0.79
0.77
1992
0.71
0.82
0.88
0.90
0.99
1994
0.87
0.93
0.96
0.91
1996
0.80
0.85
0.89
1998
0.97
2000
0.94
0.78
2002
0.76
0.84
0.81
2004
2006
0.70
0.75
0.92
2007
0.58
0.72
1.05
=>90% : 5 (1992, 94,95,98,03) out of 18 years
<80%: 6 (1990, 91, 99, 00,05, 06) out of 18 years
Interstate variations: <80% for 13 yrs in AP & 11 yrs in MH
GHIF 2010, Ssn1.4
P. Mahapatra: SRS in India An Overview

7. Overall quality and usefulness of the Indian SRS
Accuracy
Relevance
Comparability
Timeliness
Accessibility
GHIF 2010, Ssn1.4
P. Mahapatra: SRS in India An Overview

8. Overall Accuracy of SRS Data
Coverage:
Covers about 0.6% of India’s population. However, its representative character allows for estimation of vital statistics for the country and major states.
Completeness:
Around 90% registration of events upto 1980s. Interstate differences narrowed down by mid 1980s. Completeness appears to have worsened during the 1990s and after. Interstate differences in completeness appears to have widened also.
Missing data:
Generally believed to be low, but no information about missing data. Annual report should include a table showing the number of births and deaths for which age or sex information was not available and how those events were treated through the tabulation process. Also a table regarding timeliness of monthly returns from the state level offices.
GHIF 2010, Ssn1.4
P. Mahapatra: SRS in India An Overview

9. Timeliness of SRS Annual Reports
Production Time:
Median production time:
2 ½ Years
1970s:
6 ½ Years
1980s:
2½ Years
1990s:
2 Years :
1 Year 10 Months
Regularity:
SD of Production Time:
32 Months
05 Months
02 Months
07 Months
Lumping of annual reports in a publication year:
Publication Year 2000:
1997, 1998
Publication Year 2004:
2001, 2002
Publication Year 2006:
2004, 2005
GHIF 2010, Ssn1.4
P. Mahapatra: SRS in India An Overview

10. Accessibility of SRS Publications & Data
Media:
Annual reports in print form only. Half yearly bulletins in print; and pdf files through internet since April 1999
Metadata:
Annual report gives details of sampling, system of data collection and definition of terms.
But population figures in statement A or 1 are not available by sex.
From 1993, the population figures are rounded to nearest 000, reducing scope for consistency checks and indirect estimation of accuracy of SRS statistics.
User Service:
Sale counter at RGI’s head office delivers reports across the counter and responds to requests over post.
Regional sale counters in state capital do not usually stock all publications.
RGI library in Delhi does not have a reference set of all SRS publications.
GHIF 2010, Ssn1.4
P. Mahapatra: SRS in India An Overview

11. P. Mahapatra: SRS in India An Overview
Summary
Overall the Indian SRS has been a reliable and trusted source of fertility and mortality statistics for India and its bigger states.
But no evaluation of SRS after the 1980s.
Some evidence to suggest deterioration in completeness of registration, in some states.
Need for in-house and indep. evaluations
Scope to improve metadata and user services
GHIF 2010, Ssn1.4
P. Mahapatra: SRS in India An Overview

12. P. Mahapatra: SRS in India An Overview
Comments, Questions…? and
Thank You.
GHIF 2010, Ssn1.4
P. Mahapatra: SRS in India An Overview