Vital statistics on causes of death

Summary

The Vital statistics system on causes of death is the main source for the evaluation of the health status of the population, and for the health programmes and resources allocation. Data on causes of all deaths occurring in Italy during a calendar year are collected by the death certificates ISTAT/D.4, D.5, D.4 bis and D.5 bis. The physician must fill out the health section of the certificate (part A) and the civil status officer of the appurtenant municipality must fill out the demographic section of the certificate (part B).

Type of data

Data Source
Survey

Type of Study
Other: Annual, global survey

Data gathering method
Other: Data collected from Municipal Register Offices.

Access to data

Conditions of access
Data is available online.

Type of available data (e.g. anonymised microdata, aggregated tables, etc.)
Aggregate tables

Formats available
Excel, csv.

Coverage

Coverage Years of collection, reference years, and sample sizes
First year of data production was in 1923, but the survey is documented since 31/12/1998.

First year of collection
1923

Stratification if applicable
Province

Base used for sampling

Geographical coverage and breakdowns
Italy/Regions/Province

Age range
Includes all deaths

Statistical representativeness
Population representative

Coverage of main and cross-cutting topics
Information not available.

Linkage

Standardisation
CE n. 1338/2008

Possibility of linkage among databases
Information not available.

Data quality

Entry errors if applicable
Information not available.

Breaks
Information not available.

Consistency of terminology or coding used during collection
Information not available.

Governance

Contact information
Stefano Marchetti
ISTAT - Istituto Nazionale di Statistica
Via Cesare Balbo 16
Rome 00184 Italy Phone: +39 06 46731
Email: stefano.marchetti(at)istat.it
Url: http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/data-and-evidence/databases/european-health-for-all-database-hfa-db2

Timeliness, transparency
Data is collected annually. Preliminary results are available one year following collection and definitive results are available two years after collection.