The Births and Deaths Registry has the general responsibility of handling and developing the Births and Deaths Registration System in the country. It was established by the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1965 (Act301) in response to the realization of the important uses to which population statistics generated on a continuous and permanent basis could be put. These include administrative, demographic estimates, research and socio-economic planning purposes.
The Registry is one of the three departments under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment.

MISSION STATEMENT
The Births and Deaths Registry exists to provide accurate and reliable information on all births and deaths occurring within Ghana for socio-economic development of the country through their registration and certification.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE REGISTRY
In accordance with the provision in the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1965, activities of the Vital Registration System are coordinated from a national headquarters, referred to as the Central Registry Office. The entire country has been divided into Registration Regions, which coincide with the political and administrative regions of the country. There are therefore 10 Regional Registration Offices located in the Regional Capitals. The Registry has offices in all 138 districts. Under the District Offices is a network oflocal Registration Offices, 391 in all, located in various towns and communities across the length and breadth of the country.

FUNCTIONS
The functions of the Registry can be divided into two broad categories namely, the legal and statistical functions.

LEGAL FUNCTIONS
The legal functions performed by the Registry include:

• Issuing Births and Deaths Certificates.
• Delayed registration of births and deaths.
• Issuing of Certified Copies of Entries in registers of births and deaths to enable the public

make legal claims ..

• Corrections and insertions into registers of births and deaths of events already registered.
• Preparation of valid documents for exportation of remains of deceased persons.
• Processing of documents for the exhumation, removal and reburial of the remains of persons buried.
  

STATISTICAL FUNCTIONS

• Register all births and deaths occurring within the country.
• Conduct registration surveys of births and deaths to enable the Registry estimate the levels of demographic parameters of the country i.e. fertility, mortality and the growth rates of the population.
• To utilize the results of the surveys to improve and expand the coverage of the Civil Registration System, so as to produce reliable vital statistical data to guide policy makers in their decision making.

THE BACKGROUND TO BIRTHS AND DEATHS REGISTRATION IN GHANA

Vital registration in Ghana (the Gold Coast) began as far back as 1888. However, at its inception, it was limited to the registration of deaths, mostly of expatriate workers of the then colonial government. It was not until 1912 that the registration of births was introduced. The registration system has gone through a series of transformations, just as the law establishing it has seen a number of amendments. All this was aimed at improving upon the final delivery of the system.

Starting as the Cemeteries Ordinance of 1888, it saw its first amendment in 1891. In 1912, it became the Births, Deaths and Burials Ordinance, which was once again amended in 1926.

This was finally replaced with the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 301 of 1965, which is the legislation currently in force. The Births and Deaths Registry was therefore established by the Act 301 of 1965, within the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, to handle and develop the births and deaths registration system in Ghana. Its core business is to "provide accurate and reliable information on all births and deaths occurring within Ghana for Socio­economic development of the Country through their registration and certification."

The Birth Registration Process
Operations of the Births and Deaths Registry are co-ordinated from the Central Registry Office, which is located in Accra, the capital of Ghana. The entire country has been divided first into 10 Registration Regions, which coincide with the political and administrative regions of Ghana. The Registration Regions have further been divided into 110* Registration Districts, which also coincide with the country's administrative local authority areas. There is at least one Registry Office in each registration district manned by a Registration Assistant. There is also a District Registration

Officer, who supervises the registration system through the registries and reporting centres in the district.
The Registration Assistant submits monthly, all registration forms, numbered serially to the District Registration Office, which in turn forwards them to the Regional Office for further processing and onward transmission tn the Central Registry Office, where national data is compiled. Statistics of registered events are kept at all three levels to secure the information for development activities.