Myanmar Civil Registration

Myanmar Wiki Topics

Beginning Research
Research Strategies Record Finder Finding Town of Origin Online Learning
Record Types
Ancestor Cult Cemeteries Census Chinese Community Records Church Records Civil Registration Colonial Records Compiled Genealogies Court Records Directories	Emigration & Immigration Compiled Genealogies Land & Property Military Records Occupations Online Records Periodicals Religious Records Schools and Education Records Taxation
Myanmar Background
Church History Cultural Groups Gazetteers History Jurisdictions Languages	Maps Naming Customs Social Life & Customs For Further Reading
Local Research Resources
Archives & Libraries Societies

Myanmar

Civil Registration

How to Find the Records

Offices to Contact

National Civil Registration Office, local police registry offices

Nowadays, four institutions are involved in the CRVS system. At the village level, data collection is the responsibility of the local workers of the General Administration Department, in collaboration with midwives. They work in close collaboration with the Department of Immigration for household listing. At the township level, medical officer, under the Ministry of Health and Sport (MOHS), issue the certificates. At the national & sub-national levels, the gathering of vital events in a database is carried by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) under the Ministry of Planning and Finance, which then proceeds to produce and publish vital statistics. Considering the complexity of such relations, coordination committees on Birth and Death Registration were formed at the national level, state/regional level, district level, township level, ward and village tract level. The national level committee is led by Deputy Minister for Immigration and Population

Any death must be registered within 3 days. Birth registration has currently been extended to all children under 10 years old without fees to speed up the process to universal registration. According to the 2010 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, the birth registration completeness was 72%. However, there is a strong inequality between urban and rural, with 93.5% and 63.5% respectively. In 2014, the government estimated that death registration was 60% complete. For cause of death coding, only hospital deaths (16% of total deaths) have medically certified cause of death by doctors, and the coding is usually of poor quality, with an estimated 45% of these deaths coded to ill-defined codes.

Reliable cause of death information for community deaths (84% of total deaths) is not available.

The challenges for Myanmar include its lack of a legislative framework for CRVS and limitation in resources and personnel. Combined with a lack of community awareness on the importance of birth and death registration, this has led to inequitable access to services within the country. Suggested solutions include the linkage between birth registration and public services such as immunization, school enrolment, and application of household registration, as an incentive for registration.^[1]

United Nations ESCAP
United Nations Building
Rajadamnern Nok Avenue
Bangkok 10200, Thailand

Phone: +66 2 2882593

Historical Background

BMD returns were not formally organized until the arrival of the British in 1826, when they gained the territory of Tenasserim, bordering Siam. Civil Administration was initially centered at Prince of Wales Island, Penang.

In 1834 the province became part of Bengal, however military administration was based in Madras until the 1840's. Records relating to baptisms, marriages and burials in Tenasserim may therefore appear in Chaplain's Returns in the UK or Madras (for military events) or in Madras, Penang or Bengal returns during this period.

The only official returns were Anglican and RC until the 1850's, when the Government of India provided means for returns of minority religions such as the Baptists.

Records from the Myanmar National Archives show that Baptist marriages were not reported until November 1858.^[2]

Coverage and Compliance

Time period: 1852-present

Population coverage: Before 1960, 20%; after 1960, 70%.

The registration of births and deaths in Myanmar started in 1907. The system was gradually improved in order to reach all the areas to register the vital events.^[1]

Information Recorded in the Records

Births

Child’s name
Birth date and place
Parents’ names, residence, and occupation
Witnesses’ ages, relationships, residences^[2]

Marriages

Bride and groom names
Ages
Residences
Occupations
Marriage date and place
Sometimes ages and/or birth dates and places
Parents' names, residences, occupations
Witnesses' names
Names of former spouses^[2]

Divorces

Names
Ages
Dates
Places
Occupations
Residences

Often listed on the back of the marriage register.^[2]

Deaths

Name of deceased
Age
Death date and place
Occupation
Name of surviving spouse, if applicable
Informant’s name and residence
Cause of death
Sometimes:

-Birth date and place

-Parents’ names

-Children’s names^[2]

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 United Nations ESCAP, Get Everyone in the Picture, Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific, Myanmar, (accessed 21 July 2023).
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Family History Record Profile: Myanmar,” Word document, private files of the FamilySearch Content Strategy Team, 2001.

[UN-1] 1.0 ^1.1 United Nations ESCAP, Get Everyone in the Picture, Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific, Myanmar, (accessed 21 July 2023).

[profile-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Family History Record Profile: Myanmar,” Word document, private files of the FamilySearch Content Strategy Team, 2001.

[1]

[2]