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.
Exam Relevance
- Understanding the CRS helps answer questions on population data, health indicators and welfare delivery (GS1, GS3).
- The evolution of the