TL;DR India registered 252 lakh births and 87 lakh deaths in 2023, continuing its near-complete coverage under the Civil Registration System (CRS). A district-level look at the data reveals sharp contrasts: large urban centres like Chennai, Bengaluru Urban, Jaipur, Hyderabad, and Lucknow record a disproportionately high share of registrations, while many smaller or rural districts report much fewer registrations. These imbalances largely reflect differences in healthcare access, migration patterns, and where births and deaths are most likely to be registered and not necessarily where people live.
Context
The “Report on Vital Statistics of India based on the Civil Registration System (CRS) 2023” gives a detailed picture of how births and deaths are recorded across the country. These records are essential for understanding population changes and for planning health services, education, social welfare programmes, and local development.
Who Compiles This Data?
Birth and death registration in India is governed by the Registration of Births and Deaths (RBD) Act, 1969, overseen by the Office of the Registrar General of India (ORGI). Each state has a Chief Registrar who ensures that all births and deaths are recorded and reported. ORGI compiles this information into an annual publication: “Vital Statistics of India based on the Civil Registration System.”
Where can I download Clean & Structured Data of the Births & Deaths Registered in India ?
Clean, structured, and ready-to-use datasets on births and deaths from the Civil Registration System (CRS) is available for download on Dataful. It provides insights on year, state, region, and gender-wise births and deaths registered, infant births, still births and so on.
Key Insights
Births and Deaths Registered in India (2019–2023)
- 2021 recorded the highest deaths (102 lakh), consistent with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Births remained stable across five years, mostly between 242–254 lakh, challenging assumptions about sharp declines in fertility.
- Death registration levels stabilised after 2021 and returned close to pre-pandemic levels.
District-Level Patterns: What the 2023 Data Reveals
While national and state-wise registration is near complete, district-level patterns show strong variation. To understand which districts stood out in 2023, we compared each district’s share of registrations with what is typical for its own state using a simple statistical measure called a Z-score.
A Z-score tells us how far a district is from its state’s normal range:
- High Z-scores (above +2) mean the district registered far more births or deaths than expected.
- Low Z-scores (below –2) would mean far fewer than expected.
This method makes comparisons fair because states have very different numbers of districts, and raw percentages alone can be misleading.
In 2023, several districts had very high Z-scores, especially large cities with major hospitals, but none fell below -2. The lowest Z-scores were around -1, which is still within the normal range for most states.
Births – Districts with Significantly Higher Registrations
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu — Dominance of major public and private hospitals; high in-migration boosts the number of births registered in the city.
- Papum Pare, Arunachal Pradesh — Itanagar serves as the state’s main healthcare hub, concentrating most institutional births here.
- Bengaluru Urban, Karnataka — The state’s largest urban centre with extensive tertiary hospitals and a high urban population.
- Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh — Functions as a referral district for neighbouring areas, drawing in expectant mothers from surrounding regions.
- Jaipur, Rajasthan — A key medical hub with high levels of institutional deliveries and patient inflow from across the state.
Deaths – Districts with Significantly Higher Registrations
- Hyderabad, Telangana — Hosts a large cluster of major hospitals; many deaths of non-residents are registered here.
- Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh — The state capital with a heavy referral load, leading to more deaths being recorded in its hospitals.
- Patna, Bihar — Home to major tertiary care institutions that attract patients from multiple districts.
- Ranchi, Jharkhand — The state’s primary medical and referral centre, centralising a large share of death registrations.
- Jaipur, Rajasthan — Stands out in both births and deaths due to strong healthcare centralisation and major medical facilities.
Why These Districts Stand Out
These districts tend to share similar features:
- Presence of major hospitals and medical colleges
- Significant urban in-migration
- Large numbers of non-residents delivering or receiving treatment
- Administrative centralisation, registrations occur where the event takes place, not where people live
Urban districts act as registration magnets. People often travel to cities for deliveries or healthcare, inflating urban district numbers far beyond population shares.
Why Does It Matter?
The 2023 CRS data shows that India has achieved extremely high levels of birth and death registration. However, the district-level view highlights important structural patterns:
- Registrations cluster heavily in major urban districts, especially those with tertiary hospitals.
- Rural and remote districts appear under-represented, not necessarily due to low births or deaths, but because events are often registered in nearby cities.
- Administrative centralisation can distort the geographic distribution of vital events which affect planning, budgeting, and health service delivery.
Understanding these patterns is critical for;
– Strengthening rural and district-level registration
– Improving access to registration services
– Ensuring that every birth and every death is accurately recorded
Key Numbers (from 2019 to 2023)
- Births Registered (in lakhs)
2019: 248 → 2021: 242 → 2023: 252
- Deaths Registered (in lakhs)
2019: 76 → 2021: 102 → 2023: 87
- Districts With the Highest Registrations (2023)
Births: Chennai, Papum Pare, Bangalore Urban, Kurnool, Jaipur
Deaths: Hyderabad, Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi, Jaipur
