Reflections on the Relevance and Implementation of a Population Register

Abstract

The 19th century saw the establishment in Mexico, as in the majority of countries in the world, of a Registry Office, an institution created to enable the state to record life events such as births, marriages and deaths, a task that had thitherto been the responsibility of the Church. This was a crucial step, since it enabled information to be obtained for the study of demographic dynamics. By the 20tn century, nearly all countries had a system that provided this type of information.

Industrialized countries achieved total coverage of the Registry Office by the early 20th century, although it is still an extremely important source of information in the 21st century. The most recent means of obtaining demographic information and data for socio-economic planning has been the creation of a Population Register. The information obtained through this new system enables the population to be studied from more dynamic approaches and perspectives, such as Event History Analysis. As happened with Registry Offices, the first countries to establish population registers were those in Northern Europe, such as Holland, Denmark, Belgium and Sweden.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the possibility and importance of implementing a similar system in Mexico, in view of the progress achieved in the aforementioned countries and the recommendations of the United Nations Organization. To this end, it describes the shortcomings of the Mexican Registry Office and other sources of information and the essential features of a Population Register and the economic and social realities of Mexico, which are quite different from those of European countries