2024 CRS Report: Near‑Universal Birth‑Death Registration, Gender & Rural Gaps

The Government of India released the 2024 Civil Registration System (CRS) Report on 1 July 2026 . The report shows that India is close to universal registration of births and deaths, but it also highlights persistent gaps in gender balance, rural‑urban coverage and cause‑of‑death data. Key Developments (2023‑2024) Implementation of the 2023 digital amendment to the RBD Act , enabling electronic certificates and a national database. Registration completeness reached 99.1% for births and 99.4% for deaths , based on comparison with the SRS . Only 24.8% of deaths occurred in health institutions, limiting the reach of the MCCD system. Registered stillbirths fell to 81,000 in 2024 from 101,000 in 2023, with 69% of registrations from urban areas. Important Facts The report recorded 25.47 million births and 8.94 million deaths for 2024. Gender analysis shows that 60.4% of registered deaths were male and 39.6% female . Urban areas accounted for 57.1% of birth registrations** but only 57.2% of death registrations** occurred in rural areas, reflecting the migration of maternal care to cities while deaths remain community‑based. Stillbirth registration remains uneven. The decline in numbers may signal better maternal care, but the concentration of registrations in urban centres suggests under‑reporting in rural settings. UPSC Relevance Understanding the CRS helps answer questions on population data, health indicators and welfare delivery (GS1, GS3). The evolution of the RBD Act illustrates how legislation adapts to technology and public‑health needs (GS2). Gender and rural‑urban disparities in death registration are linked to equity and policy‑making, topics frequently asked in GS papers. Low institutional death coverage affects the reliability of MCCD , a key data source for disease burden estimates. Way Forward Expand MCCD coverage by training physicians and linking certificates to the digital database. Address gender and rural gaps through targeted awareness campaigns and incentives for community‑based registration. Standardise the role of the Chief Registrar across states to reduce institutional fragmentation and improve data uniformity. Enable registration of deaths of Indian nationals abroad by amending the RBD Act . Accelerate publication of the CRS report annually to provide timely mortality intelligence for policy decisions.