Records of births, marriages, and deaths are commonly referred to as “vital records” because they document essential events in a person’s life. Civil registration are vital records that are recorded by most governments in the world. The Family History Library Catalog uses the subject heading Vital Records for these records in the United States and Canada. See “Vital Records” in this outline.

Civil registration records are very important to genealogists because they often are the primary source of information for names, dates, and places of births, marriages, and deaths. These records are usually indexed and include most of the population of a country. Unfortunately, many people, including Jews, never registered these events with civil authorities even though it was mandatory.

Governments used church records or transcripts of church records as their earliest forms of civil registration. Later they required Jews to keep separate registers. Eventually most governments set up independent civil registration offices where birth, marriage, and death records were kept separately from religious denomination. These independent civil registration records are the primary topic of this section. For more information about the relationship between civil registration, church records, and Jewish records, see “Vital Records” in this outline.

Most civil registration records are divided into separate volumes by event (birth, marriage, and death). Some countries also kept separate civil registration records of Jews. These records are usually listed in the Family History Library Catalog under Jewish Records. See “Jewish Records” in this outline.

In addition to births, marriages, and deaths, civil registration may include documents required for marriage as well as records of stillbirths, deaths occurring in other cities or countries, name changes, and acknowledgments of paternal responsibility.