Africa, Asia and Eastern Mediterranean 2012 and 2013

INTRODUC TION
“To make people count, we first need to be able to count
people.”
- LEE Jong-Wook, WHO Director-General, 2003–2006
Address to WHO staff July 21, 2003
1. The Regional Strategic Plan for the Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and
the Pacific (the “Regional Strategic Plan”) represents a commitment by countries and development partners to
make sustained and coordinated efforts to improve the coverage and completeness of civil registration and
the availability and quality of vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific by 2020.
2. The impetus for the Regional Strategic Plan arises from recognition amongst countries and
development partners in Asia and the Pacific that: 2
a. Functional and reliable civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems are an important
national resource because:
i. for society: the services that they enable and the statistics that they produce are the
foundation for building a modern, efficient and informed public administration
system; and
ii. for individuals: they are crucial for realizing human, legal and economic rights, and for
social protection and integration;
b. Many countries in Asia and the Pacific do not have adequate CRVS systems and some are in
urgent need of improvement; and
c. Concerted improvement is most definitely achievable.
3. Bearing the opportunities and challenges in mind, the Regional Strategic Plan aims to achieve eight
feasible and measurable outcomes:
A. Enhanced public awareness of the value of civil registration and vital statistics systems and
actions taken to remove barriers to registration at all levels;
B. Sustained political commitment to support the development and improvement of civil
registration and vital statistics systems;
C. Sufficient and sustainable investments towards incremental improvements in civil registration
and vital statistics systems;
D. Improved and strengthened policies, legislation and implementation of regulations for civil
registration and vital statistics systems;
E. Improved availability and quality of legal documentation for all individuals;
F. Increased technical capacity of countries in Asia and the Pacific to record, compile, analyze and
disseminate complete and reliable statistics on vital events;
G. Mechanisms established for effective coordination among key stakeholders within civil
registration and vital statistics systems; and
2 See ESCAP resolution 67/12, available at .
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