IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

The completeness of current birth registration increased from less than 25% in 1998 to 72% in 2005. However, a substantial proportion of births are registered late.

Estimates of completeness of total registration (late and current) increased from 77% in 1998 to 80.2% in 2001.There is a slight decline from 2002 (77.5%) to 2005 (72%). The decrease is attributed to the fact that there are still late registrations expected in the years ahead for these birth years.

By 2005, all provinces have completeness of over 60% with Western Cape, Northern Cape and Gauteng leading at 97%, 82% and 81% respectively. Current birth registrations are lowest in KwaZulu-Natal (62%) and the Eastern Cape (66%).  

Using data from the birth register, our best estimate of the total fertility rate (TFR) for
2001 is 2,3. This estimate is significantly lower than the estimate of 2,9 based on the
2001 census.

Results from the projected completeness estimates suggest that levels of completeness
have very small additional increases beyond five years after birth year. For birth
year 2001, the estimated completeness estimate at five years later is 80.2%. This estimate improves very slightly to 80.5%, once eight years have elapse following birth.