IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

Nationally, estimated births from both indirect methods were higher than the registered births across the study period. Evidence from registered and expected births indicated that the highest number of births were recorded in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces overtime, whilst the least were reported in Northern Cape. Northern Cape showed the number of estimated births that were slightly lower than the registered births; except in 2016 where it recorded somewhat higher estimated births (23 369) than registered births (22 734). Also, completeness levels increased within an annual calendar period from the first to the fifth year of registration at the national level. Results show that Northern Cape had the highest level of completeness from 2002–2016, with the exception of Free State in 2004 where it stood at 87,5% in the first year of registration. The second highest level of completeness was pronounced in Free State that recorded between 74,6% (2003) and 86,7% (2016) in the same period. These are so with the exception of 2002 which stood at 63,1%. Overtime, the lowest completeness of registration was reported in Eastern Cape compared to other provinces. However, KwaZulu-Natal showed the lowest completeness level in 2004, 2005 and 2015 respectively.