Death Records in Bogotá

The Secretariat of Health of Bogotá has historically had the function of issuing the Authorizations for Inhumation of all those killed in Bogotá, which are the authorizations to bury the bodies of those who have died in this city, regardless of the cause or place of death (hospitals, accidents, houses, etc.).

Inhumation Authorizations contain, in addition to the date and time of death, the causes of the death and indicate in which notary, book, and page the Death Certificate is registered. In some of the older authorizations there are additional important details, such as the parents and spouse of the deceased.

It was reported that in a fire that existed in 1900, all burial authorizations that existed until that year were burned (this has been questioned by some, who know of the existence of many archived documents in boxes that, due to lack of resources to organize them, no official wanted to open them).

Inhumation records corresponding to the period 1900-1970 were transferred to the District Archive of Bogotá, in whose consultation room they can be seen free of charge.


 * Archivo de Bogotá
 * Address: Calle 5 No. 5 - 75
 * Telephone: 3 81 30 00 Ext. 4113
 * Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 am to 5 pm; Saturdays 9 am a 2 pm

The records between 1971 and 1995 can be found in the District Health Secretariat, in whose section of the Archive (floor 4) they can be consulted free of charge. The following years are indexed for easy searching in the Secretariat itself:

1971-1976 1982-1992 1995 If you do not know the date of death, you should search page by page for the years: 1977-1981 and 1993-1994.


 * Secretaría Distrital de Salud
 * Address: Cra 32 No.12-81 (Al lado de la estación CDS del Transmilenio)
 * Telephone: 3649090 Ext. 9881 
 * Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 am to 5 pm

The Jacky Paul Bentzinger database has more than 30,000 of these indexed records. www.extranjerosencolombia.com/consulta.asp. If your ancestor appears there, Jacky will be able to inform you in which he would notice, book and folio is the corresponding death certificate.