SRS and Vital Statistics

This Census of India catalogue brings together the Sample Registration System, the Civil Registration System and medical certification of cause-of-death publications. Use it for birth and death rates, fertility, infant and under-five mortality, maternal mortality, life tables and registered causes of death, with national and varying levels of state or rural–urban detail.

These systems measure different things. SRS estimates vital rates from a sample; CRS counts registered events and depends on registration completeness; MCCD covers medically certified deaths rather than every death. Keep the system and its denominator visible when comparing states or building a time series.