One of the key objectives of the Registrar General’s Department is to “Provide timely statistics and analysis, categorized according to international standards, to support democratic planning by Government”. Vital Statistical data provides useful information necessary for planning and evaluation of activities in areas such as Education and Health.
In keeping with this it is imperative that the Agency endeavours not only to capture all vital events (births, deaths as well as marriages) occurring in Jamaica, but also ensures that high integrity is maintained in recording, collating and presenting such data.
In order to achieve the production of timely and useful Vital Statistics the collaboration of many groups in and related to the Agency is required. These groups include Local District Registrars (LDRs), who register the vital event of births and deaths; Marriage Officers, who perform the wedding ceremony and solemnize marriages; Medical Officers, who supply data from hospitals and the Police and Courts Office Staff for Corners’ cases.
The Registrar General’s Department is pleased to produce and prepare for publication The Annual Statistical Report, which seeks to provide statistics on vital events such as births deaths, marriages and summary of causes of death.
Please click on the links below to review the Annual Vital Statistics Reports for 2003 and 2004. The links open in a new window and some documents may require a PDF reader such as Adobe Acrobat . Click here to get the reader.
In the fulfilment of one of the Registrar General’s Department (RGD)’s most important functions, the publication of the Annual Vital Statistics Report is an essential element. One of the key roles of this Agency is to provide data for the support of National Planning hence, the vital statistics, (statistics for births, deaths, stillbirths, infant deaths and marriages) provided must be of a high standard, both in relation to timeliness and accuracy.
Cognizant of this, the RGD continues to make significant strides in the improvement of the quality of the data it produces. Since the 2002 reporting year, the introduction of the use of technology in the capture and collation of vital data has been instrumental in allowing for the current and sustained development of the vital statistics production process.
This report would not have been of the quality and usefulness that it is without the input and cooperation of several agencies and individuals. We specially recognize the contributions of the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), the Commissioner of Police, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Supreme Court.
In addition, the tireless efforts of other personnel associated with the operations of the RGD must not go unnoticed. We say thanks to all hospitals, other health institutions, police officers, Courts officers, funeral homes, Local District Registrars (LDRs), Marriage Officers, hotel workers and our own staff members.
In 2004, the RGD will commemorate 125 years of the administration of Jamaica’s civil registration system. Since Executive Agency status was conferred in 1999, the Department has steadily realised vast improvements in its operations not only in relation to the provision of certificates but also, more importantly, in the process of vital statistics production.
The RGD is devoted to initiating and facilitating ways of sustaining and intensifying the trend of the positive development that has been achieved in recent years. Through continued partnership with its established sister organisations and by fostering new ones, the Agency will undoubtedly succeed in the complete transformation of Jamaica’s current civil registration and vital statistics systems from Third World to First World standards.
Since vital statistics, that is, statistics on births, deaths, marriages, (adoptions and divorces) are derived from the information from the civil registration system, it is crucial that this system be as comprehensive, complete and accurate as possible. Once this is ensured, the next concern is the effective and efficient transfer of all its data into the vital statistics system. This format must not only be relevant to the country’s needs but also consistent with international standards so that factual comparisons can be made.
In respect of Jamaica, both functions of civil registration and vital statistics reside under the same administrative office, the Ministry of Health. Even more advantageous is the fact that both functions are also carried out by the same agency, the RGD. It is expected therefore, and has been proven, that the interface that currently exists between the civil registration system and vital statistics system in Jamaica, as administered by the RGD, is of an optimal standard.
Though the interaction between these two systems is adequate, some concerns have been raised concerning two other factors: firstly, the level of synchronicity between civil registration and actual occurrence of vital events and secondly, the fact that Jamaica’s vital statistics, are reported upon the basis of date of registration as opposed to date of occurrence.[1]
In the case of institutional vital events, these are registered promptly as it is the duty of the institution to notify the Local District Registrar (LDR) of all known events occurring under its supervision. It is a concern, however, that there may be a small percentage of events that are not being registered on time as institutions withhold the required information due to non-payment of fees by those persons who have been provided service in that institution. Home deliveries is another area of concern as the possibility exists for delayed or no registration occurring due to lack of proper knowledge about the need to register the event. Such seeming hindrances are negated with respect to registration, being effected however, as most essential social systems (for example schools, Passport Office and administration of estates) usually demand that persons produce a birth or death certificate upon registration or solicitation of service.
This now raises the issue of delay in registration. Legally in Jamaica, registration of births and deaths are not deemed to be “late” until one year has passed after the event has occurred. The public therefore has up to one full year to opt for normal registration of a birth or death, even though ideally, registration should take place as soon as the event occurs. Consequently, the RGD must consider events that occur in a particular year, are registered in the following calendar year but which were still registered within the one year period. This raises the concern of delay in registration since the RGD uses the basis of registered events as the platform for reporting vital events.
In order for Vital Statistics to be sufficiently meaningful and comparable from year to year and country to country, it is suggested that it be reported on the basis of date of occurrence. If the date of registration must be used, the delay in registration must not be appreciable.
In the case of RGD’s data for Jamaica, the method of reporting based on registered vital events has been in existence at least since the 1995-reporting year when all statistics were generated manually. However, since the start of electronic capture, compilation and generation of vital data, the possibility of eliminating the phenomenon of registration date based vital statistics now exists. It will now be possible for the data to be easily tracked and manipulated on the basis of date of occurrence or any other parameter required.
In respect of the reduction of delay in registration and the elimination of the need for late registration, it is necessary that the appropriate statutory measures be implemented and actively enforced. The laws governing registration must contain safeguards that intrinsically and absolutely guarantee the prompt and complete registration of all vital events. Once these laws are established, then cooperation from relevant institutions such as hospitals, the police, court offices, and others involved in vital data collection, will become an inescapable obligation. In addition, the responsibility of vital event reporting and registration will, as much as possible, be removed from the public and placed in the hands of the officials who have been made aware of their occurrence. This is especially important in the case of sudden and violent deaths, the registration of which is often delayed due to the usually lengthy legal process. This process precedes the completion of the Post Mortem Examination Report, Form D (Certificate of Coroner) or Form E (Coroner’s Certificate of Finding of Jury), either one of which is required in the registration of these deaths.
Statutory change can also alleviate the described problem with sudden and violent death registration delay, by either hastening the required legal process required before registration or by circumventing the process in the achievement of full death registration. Whatever the ultimate action taken, the changes will certify that the timely registration of all deaths will be an automatic action.
In order to facilitate consistency in comparison and analysis of data used in the Annual Vital Statistics Reports, the following commonly used terms are defined below:
Births Registered All live births registered during the current calendar year. (Irrespective of year of occurrence.)
Births Occurring All live births occurring in the current calendar year. (Irrespective of year of registration and as at the time of compilation of the report.)
Deaths Registered All deaths registered in the current calendar year. (Irrespective of year of occurrence.)
Deaths Occurring All deaths occurring in the current calendar year. (Irrespective of year of registration and as at the time of compilation of the report.)
POPULATION
The mean population of Jamaica increased in 2003 from the previous year’s total of 2,617,459 to 2,630,371, which was an increase of 12,912 or 0.5%. The population growth rate increased from 0.4% in 2002 to 0.6%, the rate of growth experienced for each of the three years 1999 to 2001.
Births In and Out of Wedlock The island’s rate of births occurring in and out of wedlock was unfavourably up by 1.4% from 82.2% in 2002 to 83.6% in 2003. In addition, the percentage of fathers who did not have their particulars entered on their child’s birth registration was also unfavourably high at 45.8%, up from the previous year’s corresponding value of 44.4%.
Deliveries in Institutions The percentage of institutional deliveries for 2003 was recorded as being 95.7%, which indicated an increased proportion over the previous year’s percentage of 93.4% for these deliveries. Percentage births attended to by qualified attendant also increased from 95.4% in 2002 to 97.2% in 2003.
Teenage Births The rate of teenage deliveries or deliveries to mothers nineteen years and under decreased slightly from 19.9% to 19.4% in the current year. As has been the trend in past years, the most fecund age group overall continued to be the 20-24 year old age group.
By gender, adult male deaths accounted for 49.6%, adult female for 46.2%, infant male for 2.3% and infant females for 1.9% of all deaths registered in 2003. The three leading causes of deaths in adults continue to be “Cerebrovascular Disease”, “Diabetes Mellitus” and “Ischaemic Heart Disease”.
MARRIAGES
Marriages registered in 2003 decreased by 594 or 2.6% to 22,476 compared with 23,070 in 2002. Hotel marriages also decreased minimally from 10,580 (45.9%) to 10,037 (44.7%). By proportion, the leading parishes for hotel marriages were St. Ann, Hanover and Westmoreland.
DIVORCES
Divorces absolute totalled 1,600 in 2003, a decline of 145 or 8.3% from the total of 1,745 recorded in 2002.
At the end of 2003 the population for Jamaica stood at 2,628,300 compared with 2,622,500 for 2002. The corresponding mean population for the years 2003 and 2002 was 2,630,371 and 2,617,459 respectively.
TABLE 1: ESTIMATED POPULATION AND ANNUAL MOVEMENT IN 1998 TO 2003
In 2003 live births registered decreased by 521 to 47,583, compared with 48,104 in 2002. The month of January was responsible for the highest number of registrations for 2003, contributing 5,327 or 11.2% to the total number of live birth registrations. The months which recorded the second and third highest live birth registration were February and September with 4,569 (9.6%) and 4,217 (8.9%) respectively.
A similar situation prevailed in 2002 when the month of January contributed 5,432 or 11.3% of that year’s live birth registrations. The months recording the second and third highest registrations, however, were November and December with 4,334 (9.0%) and 4,304 (8.9%) respectively.
On the parish level, the top three leading parishes for number of live birth registrations in 2003 were Kingston 9,937 (20.9%), St. Catherine 6,159 (12.9%) and Manchester 5,534 (11.6%). In 2002, these same parishes were the three leading parishes for live birth registrations. Hanover, the island’s smallest parish accounted for the least live birth registrations for 2003 and 2002. Number of live births for the parish were 549 (1.2%) and 614 (1.3%) for 2003 and 2002 respectively.
TABLE 3A: LIVE BIRTHS REGISTERED IN 2003 BY PARISH AND MONTH OF REGISTRATION
In respect of a regional summary of the contribution to total live birth registrations, in 2003 the South Eastern Region, as has been the trend, contributed the most live birth registrations with 21,273 or 44.7%. The remaining three regions’ contributions were as follows: Southern Region with 10,595 or 22.3%, the Western Region with 8,817 or 18.5% and the North Eastern Region with 6,898 or 14.5%.
Although a similar trend prevailed in 2002 with the maximum contribution from the South Eastern Region (20,234), the percentage contribution increased by 2.6% , moving from 42.1% in 2002 to 44.7% in 2003. The Southern Region contributed 11,131 (23.1%), Western 9,690 (20.1%) and North Eastern 7,049 (14.7%).
TABLE 1C : CONTRIBUTION TO LIVE BIRTH REGISTRATION BY REGIONS - 2003 and 2002
Live births occurring in 2003 totalled 43,407. This is a decrease of 924 or 2.1% in the 44,331 total for 2002. In 2002, the live births occurring had declined by 3,734 or 7.8% from the 48,065 recorded in the previous year. The decline from 2001 to 2003 is of a 4,658 absolute or 9.7% magnitude.
Trends for regional performance for live births occurring were comparable to those for live birth registrations. In 2003, the South Eastern Region contributed the most with 19,039 or 43.9%, Southern Region, 9,845 or 22.7%, Western Region, 8,424 or 19.4% and North Eastern Region with 6,099 or 14.0%. For 2002, South Eastern had 18,584 (41.9%), Southern, 10,311 (23.2%), Western, 9,157 (20.7%) and North Eastern, 6,279 (14.2%). The live birth occurrences for 2001 were for the South Eastern Region, 22,648 (47.1%), Southern, 10,254 (21.3%), Western, 9,235 (19.2%) and North Eastern, 5,928 (12.4%).
The months with the most occurrences differed slightly from year to year. In 2003, the three leading months were October, January and November with 4,197 (9.7%), 4,147 (9.6%) and 4,025 (9.3%) respectively. In 2002 they were September, January and December with 4,339 (9.8%), 4,234 (9.6%) and 4,127 (9.3%) respectively. In 2003, however, January, October and November lead live birth occurrences with 5,581 (11.6%), 4,930 (10.3%) and 4,544 (9.5%) respectively.
Kingston, St. Catherine and Manchester were again the same parishes that led live birth occurrences as was observed with live birth registrations for 2003, 2002 and 2001. For these years, the parishes contributed the following to the total figure in each year for occurring live births: Kingston – 8,666 (20.0%), 7,226 (16.3%) and 10,343 (21.5%); St. Catherine – 5,590 (12.9%), 6,252 (14.1%) and 7,520 (15.6%) and Manchester – 5,169 (11.9%), 5,310 (12.0%) and 5,697 (11.9%) for 2003, 2002 and 2001 respectively. The parish with the least occurrences was again Hanover with 517 or 1.2% of the live birth occurrences in 2003. In 2002, it had 541 or 1.2% and in 2001, 638 or 1.3%.
TABLE 3: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2003 BY PARISH AND MONTH OF OCCURRENCEIn 2003 the male:female ratio for live birth registered remained unchanged for the previous year at 51: 49. In 2003 there were 24,235 males and 23,347 females while for 2002 there were 24,565 males and 23,539 females. (Table 3b)
In respect of live birth occurrences, in 2003 the male:female ratio was the same at 51:49 and although the absolute values decreased marginally over those for 2002 the ratio remained constant. In 2003 there were 22,134 males and 21,272 females compared with 22,702 males and 21,629 females in 2002. (Table 3c)
Of note, also, is the occurrence of one live birth for which the information for the sex could not be obtained.
Portland deviated the most from the 51:49 male to female ratio for both live birth registrations and occurrences in 2003. The ratio for occurrences was 54:46 while that for registrations was 55:45. In 2002, although Portland maintained the greatest deviation from the ratio of 51:49, the ratio experienced for both registrations and occurrences converged at 53:47
The male to female ratios for registrations and occurrences by parish of residence of mother generally show the same trend by parish as observed for the ratios by parish of occurrence and registration.
TABLE 3D: LIVE BIRTHS REGISTERED IN 2003 BY PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHER AND SEX OF CHILD
TABLE 3E: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2003 BY PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHER AND SEX OF CHILD
In the year under review, of the 43,407 live births occurring, 7,107 (16.4 %) were born in wedlock while a total of 36,300 (83.6%) were born out of wedlock. A reduction of 803 (10.2%) to 7,373 was experienced for births occurring out of wedlock compared to 7,910 in 2002. However, births out of wedlock increased by 121 to 36,300. In 2002, live births in wedlock accounted for 7,910 (17.8%) of the total and those out of wedlock 36,421 (82.2%).
During the current year, of the 36,300 live births out of wedlock, 16,433 of these were to fathers who had their particulars entered on the birth registration form (father registered). This figure represents 37.8% of all live births that occurred. The remaining 19,867 were to fathers who did not have their particulars entered on the birth registration form, and represents 45.8% of all live birth occurrences. Of note also is the fact that of the 16,433 live births occurring to registered unwed fathers, 16,280 (99.1%) were to fathers registering on signature, otherwise known as “A and B registration”. The remaining 153 or 0.3% were registered on Declaration or “Status”.
A “registration on signature” or the “A and B” registration is one where the parents of the child are not married (to each other) and both appear together at the time of registration to give their particulars and sign the birth registration from. A birth registered on Declaration is where the parents are not married and only the mother appears at the time of registration to give particulars and sign the birth registration form. Subsequent to this, the father would then attend the Registrar to add his particulars to the child’s birth registration form consequent upon him signing a completed Declaration of Paternity or Status Form. This would be known as the Declaration or Status Registration.
In 2002, of the 44,331 live births occurring 36,421 (37.8%) were born out of wedlock and 16,752 of these fathers accepted paternity for their children by entering their particulars on the birth registration record. The remaining 19,669 (44.4%) were to fathers who were not registered. Of the total number of unwed fathers being registered 15,887 were registered on signature and 865 were registered on Declaration. These represented 35.8% and 2.0% of all live birth occurrences respectively.
TABLE 4: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2003 BY PARISH OF OCCURRENCE SHOWING IN WEDLOCK AND OUT OF WEDLOCKInstitutional deliveries for 2003 increased slightly to 41,535 up from 41,399 in 2002. This was a positive situation as the improved health care augurs well for the nation’s infant mortality rate. This positive situation was further strengthened by the simultaneous decline in deliveries occurring outside of institutions. Of the 41,535 deliveries, 39,523 were in public institutions and 2,012 were in private institutions.
Additionally, the total number of qualified attendant such as medical doctors, nurses or midwives, decreased in 2003 to 42,181 (97.2% of total live births) from 42,291 observed in 2002. Doctors accounted for 18.1% (7,855) and registered midwives (or nurses) for 79.1% (34,326). Births attended to by unqualified attendant declined in 2003 to 1,177 representing 2.7% of total live births occurring. The qualifications of the persons attending to the remaining 49 or 0.1% live births are unknown.
In 2002, doctors delivered 7,373 or 16.6% live births, registered midwives or nurses were the sole attendant for 34,918 or 78.8% of all live births, 1,943 or 4.4% were attended to by unqualified personnel and 97 or 0.2% of the live births were attended to by persons of unknown qualification. The total number of live births attended to by qualified attendant in 2002 was 42,291 or 95.4%.
TABLE 5: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN INSTITUTION AND OUT OF INSTITUTION AND ATTENDANT AT DELIVERY FOR 2003It is important to establish for any set of vital data, the overall extent of delay in registration, as this assists in measuring the relevance of data reported on the basis of registration date. Table 6 presents this information as it shows the number of births in the current year that were registered in the same month in which it occurred. Additionally, it gives data on births registered within the “normal” one-year period (during which a registration is not deemed to be late). It segregates these “normal” one-year registrations into those registered within three (3) months of birth and those registered over three months but under the one-year period of allowance.
Live births registered within the same month of occurrence declined in 2003 by 2,243 showing a total of 17,292 compared with 19,535 in 2002. These “same month” registrations accounted for 39.8% and 43.7% of total live births occurring in 2003 and 2002 respectively.
Delay in registrations under one year and over three months increased from 5,221 (11.8%) in 2002 to 6,809 (15.7%) in 2003.
St. Catherine had the highest level of delay in registration with a percent delay for the “over three months” category of 40.3% in 2003. Kingston, Clarendon and St. Mary recorded delays of 35.6%, 14.1% and 11.4% respectively. The four parishes of St. Catherine, Kingston, Clarendon and St. Mary accounted for 88.1% (6,000) of all registrations which were not effected until three months after the occurrence. In 2002 these same parishes were responsible for 74% ( 3,864) of all delays (5221) in the “over three months” category.
TABLE 6: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2003 BY PARISH AND SHOWING TIME OF REGISTRATION
Of the total live births registered in 2003, 37,070 occurred in the current calendar year. The remaining 10,513 had occurred in previous years.
In respect of the level of concurrence in year of registration and year of occurrence, St. Thomas had the highest with 92.5% of its total registrations occurring in 2003. Following were Portland and St. Andrew with 90.0% and 89.4% respectively. On average, the island had 77.9% of its registrations occurring in the current calendar year.
The majority of the data in this report is presented by parish of registration or parish of occurrence of vital event. It is often useful, however, to take into account live births by the parish of residence of the mother, especially when a large number of mothers in any particular parish travel to another parish to have their babies delivered. This is often observed in Jamaica and is seen distinctly in Table 7 and 7a.
St. Andrew was the parish of residence for the largest group of mothers delivering live births in 2003, with a total of 7,747 or 17.8% of the 43,403 births. St. Catherine was next with 7,378 or 17.0% of the live births and then Clarendon with 4,247 or 9.8%. As expected, Portland had the least number of mothers residing there with 1,259 or 2.9% of the total live births.
In 2002, St. Catherine was the parish that most mothers resided in with 7,821 or 17.6% of total live births occurring. Next was St. Andrew with 7,263 or 16.4% and Clarendon in third again with 4,463 or 10.1%. The lowest level of maternal residency was in Portland with 1,313 or 3.0%. The order was the same in 2001 with St. Catherine at 9,205 (19.2%), St. Andrew with 9,057 (18.8%) and Clarendon, 4,361 (9.1%); Portland had the lowest with 1,360 (2.8%).
Looking at the cases for 2003, where the mother resided and had her baby in the same parish, it is observed that seven parishes, St. Catherine, St. Thomas, Portland, Hanover, Trelawny, Clarendon and St. Elizabeth, had over 90% concurrence. The parishes that deviated significantly from this trend included Kingston with 21.9% concurrence, St. Andrew with 65.5% and Manchester with 55.0%.
The same general trend was seen in 2002 and 2001, with the same seven parishes, as mentioned above, having over 90% concurrence between parish of occurrence and parish of residence and Kingston, St. Andrew and Manchester deviating from this with concurrence percentages of 19.2%, 66.5%, 55.5% and 19.4%, 66.6%, 54.6% for 2002 and 2001 respectively.
TABLE 7: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2003 BY PARISH OF OCCURRENCE AND PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHER
In Table 8, further details on live births occurring in 2003 are given on gender outcome, births in and out of wedlock and institutional births by quarter of occurrence. Additionally, live birth outcome is presented in the same format. In the current year, it is observed that there were 42,541 single births, 439 twin births and 6 triplets. This is compared to the previous year’s corresponding figures of 43,480 singletons, 421 twins and 3 triplets. In comparison to 2001, however, 2002 decreased slightly from the corresponding values of 47,127 singletons, 463 twins and 4 triplets.
In 2003 the percentage of singleton births was 98.96%, twin births was 1.02% and triplet births was 0.02%. In 2002 and 2001, the respective corresponding percentages were: 99.03%, 0.96%, 0.01% and 99.02%, 0.97%, 0.01%.
Overall, it is notable that the quarter with the highest number of live birth occurrences was the last quarter, October to December, with 12,041 in total. The lowest level of occurrence was in the April to June quarter with 9,441 births.
TABLE 8: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2003 BY AGE OF MOTHER AND LIVE BIRTH ORDER
The most fecund age group for 2003 was the 20-24 year old with 11,954 or 27.5% of the total live births. Next came the 25-29 group with 9,362 or 21.6% and the 15-19 with 8,110 or 18.7%. It was a similar observation for 2002 and 2001 when the top three age groups were also the 20-24, 25-29 and 15-19 year categories with the following respective absolute and percentages values: 11,570 (26.1%), 10,009 (22.6%), 8,505 (19.2%) and 12,828 (26.7%), 10,871 (22.6%), 9,479 (19.7%).
As is expected, the larger the magnitude of the live birth order, the smaller the number of live births overall. In the current year this is demonstrated by the live birth totals for 1st, 2nd, 3rd 4th and 5th order live births having the values 15,022 (34.6%), 10,975 (25.3%), 7,241 (16.7%) 4,465 (10.3%) and 2,621 (6.0%) which totalled 40,324 or 92.9% of all live births. This was a minimal increase over the previous year’s corresponding figures of 40,922 births or 92.3%.
The highest live birth order recorded for 2003 were for two children being born 15th to mothers in the 40-44 year age group. This compares favourably with 2002, when one mother in the 35-39 age group had her 17th child. In 2001, two mothers (35-39 and 40-44 years), had their 14th child.
In the current year, the 15-19 age group was the largest category having their 1st child with 6,430 or 42.8% of the 1st born birth order. For 2nd born, the largest group was the 20-24 with 4,188 or 38.2%. The 25-29 and 30-34 age groups had the highest number of births in the 3rd and 4th live birth order categories with 2,220 (30.7%) and 1,407 (31.5%) respectively. There was a similar trend observed in 2002, when the same age groups led each live birth order category with the following values: 6,606 (44.3%), 4,089 (36.7%), 2,323 (31.3%) and 1,557 (33.2%) for 15-19, 20-24, 25-29, 25-29 age groups respectively.
Looking at age of mother by parish of occurrence of live birth in Table 9a, as seen in 2002, St. Andrew was the only parish with its largest number of live births being to the 25-29 age group of mothers with 934 births occurring in this parish or 28.0% of the parish’s total. All the other thirteen parishes had their largest age group as the 20-24 age group. When the parish of residence is considered in Table 9b, however, a different pattern is observed as all fourteen parishes have their largest age group as the 20 to 24 age group.
TABLE 9: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2003 BY AGE OF MOTHER AND LIVE BIRTH ORDER
TABLE 9A: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2003 BY AGE OF MOTHER AND BY PARISH OF OCCURRENCE
TABLE 9B: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2003 BY AGE OF MOTHER AND BY PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHERAs can be seen from Table 9, there were 311 births to mothers under 15 years old and 8,110 to mothers 15 to 19 years old. In total these accounted for 8,421 or 19.4% live births to mothers 19 and under. This is a minimally desirable trend when compared to that for 2002 when these values were 303 births to mothers under 15 years, 8,505 to those 15 to 19 years and in total 8,808 or 19.9%. It was also an even further improvement over 2001, which had values of 338 for under 15 years, 9,479 for 15 to 19 years and in total 9,817 or 20.4%.
Another noteworthy observation is that the largest number of live births occurring in a single cohort for the age group / live birth order cross-tabulation was for 15 to 19 year old mothers having their first child. This figure stood at 6,430 or 14.8% of all live births occurring. This also compares favourably with statistics for 2002 and 2001 with 6,606 (14.9%) and 7,395 (15.4%) respectively.
Turning to the mothers’ age group by parish of occurrence and parish of residence, interesting patterns are seen. By parish of occurrence, the largest absolute number of births for mothers 19 years and under occurs in Kingston with a total of 1,834 or 21.2% of that parish’s occurrences. By parish of residence, however, St. Andrew has the largest number of live births for 19 years and under with 1,385 occurrences or 17.9% for that parish.
The highest magnitude of births to mothers 19 and under by proportion or percentage of parish total by parish of occurrence, however, revealed a different parish, that of Trelawny with 174 or 23.0% of the parish total. By parish of residence, it was also another parish, being Westmoreland with 620 or 22.9% of parish total.
TABLE 9: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2003 BY AGE OF MOTHER AND LIVE BIRTH ORDER
TABLE 9A: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2003 BY AGE OF MOTHER AND BY PARISH OF OCCURRENCE
TABLE 9B: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2003 BY AGE OF MOTHER AND BY PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHER
In Chart 1 to the left, total live births is shown for the six age groups, which largely form a part of the fertile period, under 15, 15-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34 and 35-39 years. For these age groups, a comparison of 2002 and 2003 shows that there were increases for the under 15 and 20-24 age groups. Conversely, the other age groups showed decreases from 2002 to 2003. Table 9 can be referred to for the absolute values. From Chart 1 also, it can be observed that from the low number of total live births to mothers under 15, there is a sharp increase to the 15-19 age group, where it is just above 8,000. Then there is another increase to the 20-24 group, where it reaches a high of about 12,000. There are then steady decreases from this group to the 25-29 with around 10,000, then to 30-34 with approximately 8,000 and finally to the 35-39 group with above 4,000.
CHART 1: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2002 vs 2003 FOR MOTHERS OF AGE GROUPS UNDER 15 YRS T0 35-39 YRS
Chart 2 shows live birth totals for the 15-19 age group for each live birth order up to the fourth born in the group. For first order births, it is observed that this total lay between the 6,000 and 7,000 marks. The Second order teenage birth total was far less at midway the 1,000 and 2,000 marks. Third order birth was about one fifth above the zero mark. The fourth order birth total was negligible and not observable on the chart. From year to year, the 2002 to 2003 comparison live births to the 15-19 year age group having their first-born and second-born decreased slightly. For third and fourth order births, there were generally negligible differences in their totals.
CHART 2 :LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2002 vs 2003 FOR TEENAGE MOTHERS (15 TO 19 YEARS OLD)
In the accompanying Graph 1, the percentage change in number of live births to teenage mothers or mothers 15 to 19 years from 2002 to 2003 are shown for each live birth order up to the fourth born. Observation and interpretation of the graph reveals that the live birth total for 15 to 19 year old mothers having their first-born experienced a decrease of 2.7% from 2002 to 2003. For the second and third born group, there were also decreases of 11.9% and 10.7% respectively from 2002 to 2003. The total for fourth born, however, increased significantly by 50.0% for the same year’s period.
GRAPH 1: PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN NUMBER OF LIVE BIRTHS TO TEENAGE MOTHERS 15 TO 19 YEARS OLD FOR PERIOD 2002-2003As shown in the table 1D and accompanying graphs and charts, there has been a general trend of decline from 1996 to 2003. There was a decrease in every year excepting for 1997 and 2000 when total live birth registration increased. By absolute and percentage measures, the greatest level of decline was observed in 2002, when live births decreased by 5,555 or 10.4%. The overall reduction in the live birth total was from 57,390 to 47,583, a fall of 9,807 or 17.1%.
TABLE 1 D : LIVE BIRTHS REGISTERED BY PARISH AND YEAR OF REGISTRATION FOR 1996 TO 2003
In Graph 2, the parish trends are seen for the eight-year period and all parishes are seen to fluctuate. For the overall period of 1996 to 2003, all parishes declined except St. Ann, which increased from 3,651 to 4,040, an increase of 389 or 10.7%. The largest absolute decline from 1996 to 2003 was in Kingston and St. Andrew, which fell by 3,407 or 20.1%. The smallest absolute and percentage decline was experienced by St. Mary, which fell by 156 or 7.6%. Conversely, the largest percentage declines were seen in Hanover and St. Elizabeth, which decreased by 387 (41.3%) and 737 (33.9%) respectively.
GRAPH: 2 LIVE BIRTHS REGISTERED BY PARISH AND YEAR OF REGISTRATION FOR 1996 TO 2003
In Chart 3 below, live births are represented by years for each parish for the eight-year period being observed. We see that Kingston and St. Andrew attained a high of over 18,000 in 1997 and a low of under 12,000 in 2002. For St. Catherine, the highest number of live birth registrations was recorded in 2001 at just over 8,000 and its lowest record in 2003 at just over 6,000. Manchester had its highest number of live birth registrations in 2000 at over 6,000 and its lowest in 1997 at about 5,000. The other parishes of note, Portland, Hanover and Trelawny, all fell at or below the 1,000 mark for all years.
Chart 3: LIVE BIRTHS REGISTERED BY PARISH AND YEAR OF REGISTRATION FOR 1996 TO 2003
Graph 3 shows total live births registered for each year from 1996 to 2003. Here the general decline through the eight years is seen along with the marginal increases in 1997 and 2000. Sharp reductions are also seen in 1999 and 2002. Total live births in 1996 stood at 57,390. It increased minimally to 59,446 in 1997 but declined to 56,937 and 53,627 in 1998 and 1999 respectively. In 2000 it recovered to 54,035 but again declined marginally in 2001 to 53,659. In 2002 a further decline was experienced when births registered were 48,104. In the current year, there is a minimal decline to 47,583 births.During 2003 a total of 14, 939 deaths were registered which is similar to the previous year’s total registrations of 14,931. This latter total was, however, a moderate decrease of 1,273 or 7.8% on the 2001 total registrations of 16,204.
Consistent with the trend for population and live birth data, the South Eastern Region led the regional count in respect of death registrations. This region accounted for 7317 (49.0%) of the 2003 death registration total. The Southern, Western and North Eastern regions accounted for 3, 139 (21.0 %), 2,468 (16.5%) and 2,015 (13.5%) respectively.
The regional pattern for the two previous years, 2002 and 2001, were no different with the four regions in order of total deaths registrations, from the largest to the smallest were South Eastern, Southern, Western and North Eastern. In 2002 these respective totals were 6,929 (46.4%), 3,343 (22.4%), 2,540 (17.0%) and 2,119 (14.2%). In 2001 the respective totals were 7,474 (46.1%), 3,493 (21.6%), 2,955 (18.2%) and 2,285 (14.1%).
Predictably, the three leading parishes with respect to total deaths registrations in 2003 were the urban centres of St. Andrew with 2,621 (17.5%), Kingston with 2,286 (15.3%) and St. Catherine with 1,821 (12.2%). Other parishes which had significantly high death registrations included Manchester with 1,432 (9.6%), Clarendon with 1,022 (6.8%) and St. James with 1,001 (6.7%). In 2002, while these same three parishes accounted for the majority of death registrations the picture was slightly different as Kingston had the most death registrations of 2,314 (15.5 %,) followed by St. Andrew and St. Catherine at 2,222 (14.9%) and 1,800 (12.1%) respectively. For 2001, the top three parishes were also the same, however, with St. Andrew leading at 2,673 (17.9%), then Kingston at 2,260 (15.1%) and St. Catherine at 1,961 (13.1%).
With regard to monthly death registrations in 2003, January recorded the most, registrations of 1,560 representing 10.4% of the year’s total. December with 1,350 registrations or 9.0% was next. February had 1294 or 8.7%.of total registrations and was the month that recorded the third highest registrations In the previous year, January had also been the leading month with 1,492 (9.9%), however the months following were July with 1,407 (9.3%) and October with 1,293 (8.6%). For 2001, January led with 1,633 (10.8%), July also had the second highest number of death registrations with 1,490 (9.9%), but the month following was June with 1,476 (9.8%).
TABLE 10A: DEATHS REGISTERED IN 2003 BY PARISH AND MONTH OF REGISTRATION
The island’s Crude Death Rate in 2003 remained unchanged from the 5.7 recorded in 2002. Since 1999 the Crude Death Rate has steadily declined from an high of 6.7 to its current rate of 5.7. The table below reveals the trend in Crude Death Rates over the eight-year period of 1996 to the current year.
TABLE 1 E : CRUDE DEATH RATE FOR 1996 TO 2003There were 14,667 deaths that occurred in 2003 which indicated a negligible absolute increase of 625 or 4.5% over last year’s 14,042. There were 12,903 deaths occurring in 2001, and the increase from 2001 to 2002 was by a substantial 1,139 or 8.8%.
Regional observation over the three-year period show interesting trends. The order by magnitude of occurrences was the customary South Eastern, then Southern, then Western and North Eastern Regions. From 2001 to 2003, however, the South Eastern increased steadily from 6,193 to 6,405 to 7,134, an overall increase of 941 or 15.2%. Turning to the Southern Region, it can be seen that it fluctuated with successive values of 2,577, 3,198 and 3,114, but had an overall increase of 537 or 20.8%. The Western Region on the other hand decreased gradually from 2,451 to 2,426 and finally to 2,436, an overall decrease of 15 or 0.6%. The North Eastern, like the Southern Region, also fluctuated, with absolute values of 1,682, 2,013 and 1,983, which indicates an overall increase of 301 or 17.9%.
The months recorded as having the most occurrences of death in 2003 were January, December and March with 1,451 (9.9%), 1,331 (9.1%), and 1,257 (8.6%) respectively. In 2002 July, October and April were the leading months with 1,369 (9.7%), 1,262 (9.0%) and 1,216 (8.7%) respectively. For 2001 January, July and June were the top three months with 1,289 (9.2%), 1,213 (8.6%) and 1,208 (8.6%) respectively.
TABLE 10: DEATHS OCCURRING IN 2003 BY PARISH AND MONTH OF OCCURRENCE
In addition to the total deaths occurring of 14,667 data provided by the Police showed 1,560 sudden and violent deaths reported during 2003. A combination of these data (minus matches in both) shows total occurrences of deaths at 16,036. Further analysis of the information provided by the Police appears below under the section – “Deaths Reported by the Police”.
All deaths that occur in Jamaica or in Jamaican waters must be certified by a recognised medical officer, doctor or pathologist. This certification must also take the form of a properly completed and signed document before the death can be completely registered by the Registrar General’s Department. The documents that must accompany all legitimate death registrations must be a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death, Post Mortem Examination Report, Certificate of Coroner (Form D) or Coroner’s Certificate of the Findings of the Jury (Form E).
The Medical Certificate is normally completed by a medical doctor or officer who had been overseeing the care and/or treatment of the deceased and had last done so no more than six months before death had occurred. The essential purpose of the Medical Certificate is that the officer who completes and certifies it is certain of the cause of death of the deceased that he or she enters on it. If, for instance, someone was recently under the care of a physician and then died unexpectedly or suddenly, the physician might be in some doubt as to whether the morbid or disease condition, which he or she knows to have been attending the deceased prior to death, really was sufficient to cause the demise. In this case, a post mortem may become necessary.
Sudden and Violent deaths, are those in which the person dies suddenly or unexpectedly. Violent deaths are those occurring under criminal circumstances. All such deaths deemed to be “sudden” or “violent” fall under the jurisdiction of the law and require that a pathologist or equivalent officer perform a post mortem examination. From this examination, the Post Mortem Examination Report is completed and issued. Usually from this Post Mortem Examination Report, a Certificate of Coroner or Form D is completed, authorised by the Coroner’s Court. In cases where culpability of a crime must be investigated, then a Form D will be issued in the interim showing the cause of death. However, after a Coroner’s Inquest is complete then a Coroner’s Certificate or Form E is issued. The category “Uncertified Death” speaks to those death registrations, most of which are incomplete, that have no associated document as previously described. Due to the delay in obtaining the Post Mortem Examination Report, Form D or Form E in some “sudden and violent death” cases, the process known as “incomplete death registration” has evolved in response to this problem. Upon receipt of the proper supporting document for the death from the prescribed authorities, the registration is then completed.
In 2003, there were 12,703 deaths registered from the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death. This accounts for 85.0% of all death registrations. Post Mortem Examination Reports were used to certify 540 or 3.6% death registrations. Form Ds accounted for 423 or 2.8% death registrations and Form Es were used for 189 or 1.3%. The remaining 1,084 or 7.3% were uncertified deaths.
TABLE 11: DEATHS REGISTERED IN EACH PARISH BY TYPE OF CERTIFICATION FOR 2003It is often useful to consider place of death when observing death statistics. Conventionally, this publication categorises place of death of deceased as Public hospital, Private hospital or Other. A public institution is defined as any institution which under the direction or control of the Jamaican government. A private institution is any institution that does not fall under the direct auspices of the Jamaican government. Other refers to any other place not defined to be a public or private institution.
By itself, Kingston has the highest absolute and percentage values for public hospital deaths, with 1,864 or 81.5% of its deaths. The highest absolute and percentage deaths in private institutions were also in Kingston 170 or 7.4% of its deaths. St. Elizabeth, however, had the highest percentage deaths in other places at 531 or 77.5% while St. Andrew had the highest absolute value for deaths in other places at 1,202 or 45.9%.
On average, parishes had 46.6% of their deaths in Public institutions, 3.4% in Private institutions and 50.0% in other places. For the South Eastern Region the corresponding absolute and percentage values were 4,191 (57.3%), 343 (4.7%) and 2,783 (38.0%). The North Eastern Region had absolute and percentage values for Public, Private and Other being 888 (44.1%), 13 (0.7%) and 1114 (55.3%). The Western Region had values of 1,178 (47.7%), 80 (3.2%) and 1,210 (49.0%). The Southern Region had values of 696 (22.2%), 74 (2.4%) and 2,369 (75.5%). Overall, deaths registered in the island had 46.5% occurring in public institutions, 3.4% in private institutions and 50.0% in other places.
TABLE 12: DEATHS REGISTERED IN 2003 BY PARISH AND PLACE OF DEATHNine parishes, namely St. Catherine, St. Thomas, Portland, St. Mary, Westmoreland, Hanover, Trelawny, Clarendon and St. Elizabeth, have over 90% of their deaths being registered in the same parish as the parish of residence of the deceased. The only parish with an extremely low percentage of coincidence between parish of residence and registration was Kingston with 33.2%.
TABLE 13: TOTAL DEATHS REGISTERED IN 2003 CLASSIFIED BY PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF DECEASED
Where coincidence of parish of residence and parish of occurrence is concerned, the identical trend is seen for the nine parishes mentioned above and Kingston has a coincidence of 33.5%.
TABLE 13A: TOTAL DEATHS OCCURRING IN 2003 CLASSIFIED BY PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF DECEASEDThe following two terms are frequently used in relation to the mortality age categories reported on: “adult” and “infant”. The term “adult” as used in the context of this publication, refers to all individuals of the age 5 years and over. The term “infant” by international standards usually refers to individuals under 1 year old. For ease of identification in this analysis, however, individuals under 1 year as well as those 1 to 4 years are referred to as “infants”. In Tables 14 to 14b, “infant” and “pre-school” deaths are referred to. Here, infant denotes the traditional “under 1 year” definition while “pre-school” relates to all other individuals in the under 5 age group.
Of the 14,939 deaths registered in 2003, adult males accounted for 7,408 or 49.6%, while adult females accounted for 6,910 or 46.2%, infant males for 341 or 2.3% and infant females 280 or 1.9%. This represents a minimal decrease for adult males of 62 or 0.8% over the previous year’s total of 7,470. It also reflects a moderate increase in the adult female total, however, of 113 or 1.6% over the previous year’s total of 6,797. Conversely, both the infant male and infant female totals decreased from the 355 and 309 recorded in 2002 by 14 (3.9%) and 29 (9.4%) respectively. The corresponding percentage values, which applied to the adult male, adult female, infant male and infant female values in 2002, were 50.0%, 45.5%, 2.4% and 2.1%.
Adult deaths totalled 14,318 in 2003 while in 2002 it totalled 14,267. This was an increase of 51 or 0.4%. Infant deaths totalled 621 in the current year and 664 in the previous year, a decline of 43 or 6.4%. Of the 14,318 adult deaths, 51.7% were male and 48.3% were female. Of the 621 infant deaths, 54.9% were male and the remaining 45.1% were female.
TABLE 14A: Deaths for Male Infants and Pre-schoolers by Cause and Age for 2003
TABLE 14B: Deaths for Female Infants and Pre-schoolers by Cause and Age for 2003
TABLE 15A: Summary of Adult Female Deaths by Cause and Age (5 - 100 years) for 2003
TABLE 15C: Summary of Adult Male Deaths by Cause and Age (5 - 100 years) for 2003
Chart 4 shows the general age / sex distribution for 2003. Here, it is observed that the general trend among the four age / sex categories remained at the same 50:46:2:2 ratio that was observed in 2002.
CHART 4: DEATHS REGISTERED IN 2003 BY PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL DEATHS IN EACH MAJOR AGE/SEX CATEGORYInternationally, causes of deaths are classified under the standard International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The RGD currently uses the latest version ICD-10 in coding cause of deaths.
A significant number of deaths are assigned the “R99” code as a result of incomplete or no cause of death data on the death registration form. These incomplete registrations, as described in the Introduction, exist as a result of the provision made for sudden and violent deaths whose registrations are frequently delayed due to lengthy processes sometimes associated with the completion of the supporting document needed for complete registration. Such delays are normally due to legal procedures.
Consequently, the R00-R99 category is recorded as being the cause of many more deaths than it actually does in reality. Consequently, this category is routinely excluded from the leading causes of death tables.
The fourteen leading causes of death for all infants and pre-schoolers combined accounted for 481 (77.5%) of the 621 total in the current reporting year. In the previous year, the top fourteen cause of deaths in the same age groups totalled 485 or 73.0% of all the 664 such deaths in the year. In 2001, there were 702 accounting for the top fourteen causes of death or 86.3% of the 813 total in that year.
The leading cause of death for infants and pre-schoolers combined in 2003 was again “Disorders relating to length of gestation and foetal growth” with 163 deaths from this cause. “Congenital malformations of the heart” was next with 39, followed by “Other congenital malformations” with 33. In the previous year, the leading cause was also “Disorders relating to length of gestation and foetal growth” with 117 such deaths, which means that there was an increase in this cause of 47 or 40.2% for 2003. In 2002, second and third highest causes of death were not as in 2003; previously they were “Other respiratory conditions” and “Remainder of perinatal conditions” with 51 and 47 deaths respectively. These two cause of death categories do appear on the top fourteen list for 2003, however, at positions four and seven respectively.
In 2003, the three leading causes of death for adult females were “Cerebrovascular diseases”, “Diabetes Mellitus” and “Hypertensive diseases” with 1,109 (16.0%), 985 (14.3%) and 532 (7.7%) of all adult female deaths. The previous year had the same three causes of deaths at the top of the adult female leading causes of deaths list with 1,077 (15.8%), 927 (13.6%) and 489 (7.2%) respectively. In 2001, the top two leading causes of death for adult females were consistent with those in 2002 and 2003 with 1,169 or 16.1% and 976 or 13.4% of all adult female deaths. The third in line for this year was, however, “Ischaemic heart disease” with 457 or 6.3%.
Overall, the ten leading causes of death listed for adult females accounted for 4,525 or 65.5% of all the 6,910 adult female deaths in the current year. This was an absolute increase of 235 or percentage increase of 5.5`% over the previous year’s total of 4,290, which was 63.1% of all adult female deaths for that year. In 2001, the corresponding total for the leading causes of death for adult females was 4,522 or 62.3% of all adult female deaths for that year.
TABLE 15: Leading Causes of Deaths for Adult Females by Cause and Age (5 - 100 years) for 2003
For adult males in 2003, the three leading causes of death were “Cerebrovascular diseases”, “Malignant neoplasm of prostate” and “Diabetes Mellitus” with 888 (12.0%), 529 (7.1%) and 512 (6.9%) respectively. In 2002 and 2001, the top three causes of death were the same, however, the order differed with “Cerebrovascular diseases” in first place with 828 (11.1%) and 937 (11.5%),“Diabetes Mellitus” in second place with 550 (7.4%) and 541 (6.7%) and “Malignant neoplasm of prostate” in third with 523 (7.0%) and 461 (5.7%) respectively.
The ten leading causes of death for adult males in 2003 accounted for 4,423 or 59.7% of the 7,408 adult male deaths. The corresponding values for 2002 and 2001 were 4,151 or 55.6% and 4,417 or 54.3% respectively.
TABLE 15B: Leading Causes of Deaths for Adult Males by Cause and Age (5 - 100 years) for 2003
Table 15d shows the combination of the leading causes for male and female adult deaths in 2003. Together male and female “Cerebrovascular disease” related deaths accounted for 1,997 or 13.9% of the 14,318 adult deaths. Next was “Diabetes Mellitus” and “Ischaemic heart disease” with 1,497 or 10.5% and 953 or 6.7% of all adult deaths respectively.
TABLE 15D: Leading Causes of Deaths for Adults by Cause and Age (5 - 100 years) for 2003
Graph 4 shows the leading causes for all adults in order of descending magnitude for the current year, along with the accompanying table of summary codes, cause of death description and totals for each. This graph is derived from Table 15d. Deaths from the leading causes in 2003 totalled 9,623 or 67.2% of all adult deaths. In 2002, deaths from the leading causes totalled 9,129 (64.0%) and in 2001, 9,721 (62.2%).
GRAPH 4: Leading Causes of Death for Adults in 2003 (Excluding R00-R99 Category)
In 2002 and 2001, the top two causes were also “Cerebrovascular disease” and “Diabetes Mellitus” with 1,905 (13.4%) and 1,477 (10.4%) in 2002 and 2,106 (13.7%) and 1,517 (9.9%) in 2001 respectively. The third highest cause of death in 2002 and 2001 were “Other heart disease” with 891 (6.2%) and “Ischaemic heart disease” with 900 (5.8%) respectively. </p> <p align="justify">In Graph 5 the trend for the twelve leading causes of death for adults can be seen for the three years 2001, 2002 and 2003. Deaths caused by “Cerebrovascular Disease” was at a high of over 2,000 in total in 2001, just below 2,000 in 2002 and just at the 2,000 mark in 2003. Deaths resulting from the second most common cause of death, “Diabetes Mellitus” were generally constant at around 1,500 for all three years under review. The third, fourth and fifth leading causes of death averaged around a little under 1,000 deaths and the remaining seven averaged around 500 deaths and under.
In this 2003 report, three new death tables are presented showing adult mortality by the totals for each major cause of death category in descending order of frequency for the nineteen major ICD-10 categories of codes.
As seen in the table for adult females, “Diseases of the circulatory system” head the list with 2,614 deaths or 37.8% of all female deaths resulting from this category. Next are “Neoplasms” and “Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases” with 1,222 (17.7%) and 1087 (15.7%) respectively. The third category is of a significant magnitude due to Diabetes Mellitus being one of the conditions under this category. Altogether the three leading major categories account for 4,923 or 71.2% of all female deaths.
TABLE 15E: Adult Female Deaths Showing Major Categories by Cause and Age (5 - 100 years) for 2003In respect of adult males, “Diseases of the circulatory system” and “Neoplasms” are also the major categories responsible for the highest number of deaths with 2,317 (31.3%) and 1,638 (22.2%) respectively. The third major category, however, was “Diseases of the respiratory system” with 647 or 8.7%, although “Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases” followed closely with 624 or 8.4%. Altogether the three top major categories accounted for 4,584 or 61.9% of all adult male deaths.
TABLE 15F: Adult Male Deaths Showing Major Categories by Cause and Age (5 - 100 years) for 2003For adult deaths combined, the three leading major categories were the same as for adult females with the following contributions: “Diseases of the circulatory system” with 4,931 (34.4%), “Neoplasms” with 2860 (20.0%) and “Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases” with 1,711 (11.9%). These three together totalled 9,502 or 66.4% of all adult deaths.
TABLE 15G: All Adult Deaths Showing Major Categories by Cause and Age (5 - 100 years) for 2003Total death registrations fluctuated from year to year for the eight-year period under investigation. The largest absolute increase was in 1998 with an increase of 1,190 or 7.3% over the previous year, while the largest percentage increase was in 1997 with an increase of 1,110 or 7.4%. Conversely, the highest level of decline was recorded in 2002 with a decrease of 1,273 or 7.9%. The overall decline from 1996 to 2003 was a mere 856 or 5.4%.
TABLE 1F: Totals for Deaths Registered by Parish for 1996-2003
Chart 5 shows the year-to-year trend for each parish for the 1996 to 2003 period. As previously stated, all parishes are seen to fluctuate during the stated period. Kingston had a high of a little over 3,000 in 1999 and a low of about 1,700 in 1996. St. Andrew had a high of about 3,000 in 1999 as well and a low of about 2,200 in 2002. St. Catherine had a high of about 2,200 in 1999 and a low of 1,800 in 2002. Manchester was the next parish with a significant trend, having a high of a little less than 1,500 in 1996 and a low of about 1,000 in 1997. St. James had a high of under 1,500 in 2000 and a low of about 1,000 in 2003.
CHART 5: Deaths Registered By Parish and Year of Registration for 1996 to 2003
Graph 7 shows the trend of total deaths registered in Jamaica from 1996 to 2003. It is seen to fluctuate from the mid mark of 15,500 and 16,000 in 1996 to around 15,000 in 1997, then increases to about 16,000 in 1998 and to just under 17,500 in 1999. From this high in 1999, it decreases to a little under 16,500 in 2000, to just above 16,000 in 2001. It had another sharp decrease to a little under 15,000 in 2002 and recovers slightly to a little over 15,000 in 2003.
The RGD continues to collaborate with the Jamaica Constabulary Force through the arm of the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) with the objective of improving the accuracy of total deaths occurring in Jamaica. The CCN provides the agency with detailed information from its database with respect to cases of sudden or violent deaths, which the Police have knowledge of their occurrence throughout the year. The four categories of sudden and violent death case files provided are: i) Fatal Shootings, ii) Murder, iii) Suicides and (iv) Motor Vehicle Accidents.
These data are electronically stored by the RGD and the summary of this data by parish and month of occurrence can be seen in Table 15h. [1] During 2003, there were 1,560 such deaths reported by the Police. This reflected a decline of 119 (7.1%) compared with last year’s total of 1,679.
In respect of the regions, the South Eastern region accounted for 952 (61.0 %) of all the 2003 deaths reported by the police. The parishes of St. Andrew, St. Catherine and Kingston accounted for 916 (96.2% ) of that region’s deaths and 58.8% all police deaths.
The respective contribution of the remaining regions, to the 2003 deaths reported by the police, in order of descending magnitude, were as follows: Western Region 282 (18.1%), Southern Region 226 (14.5%) and North Eastern 100 (6.4%). This reflected no change in the pattern of contribution in respect of the 2002 data.
Despite a 40% (141) decline in total deaths reported in 2003 the overall decline was minimized at 114 (7%) as increases of 3% and 9 % were experienced in the Western and Southern regions respectively.
In 2003 a combination of death occurrences from RGD’s database (14,667) and police data not already in the database (1,369), resulted in total death occurrences of 16,036 deaths.
The police data provided for occurrences (1560) were matched against the registration data in RGD’s database for the current year, in order to identify deaths which had occurred in 2003 but were not registered in the current year. This exercise produced 191 matches in respect of deaths registered, leaving a total of 1,369 deaths which had occurred in 2003 but which were not registered in the current year.
TABLE 15I: Sudden and Violent Deaths Occurring in 2003 by Parish and Month of Occurrence
There was an overall decline of 5.6% (81) in total police deaths occurring in 2003 compared with total reported deaths of 1,450 in 2002. Male deaths from this group totalled 1,210 (88.4%) and showed an increase of 23 (1.9%) over that for 2002. However, data for females showed a decline of 39.5% from 263 in 2002 to 159 in 2003. In respect of both sexes, the 25 to 29 years age group recorded the highest number (220) of police deaths reported.
Male deaths reported by the police in 2003 were 1,210. Of this, a total of 270 (22.3%) were caused by transport accidents, 43 (3.6%) were from suicide or “Intentional self harm”, 783 (64.7%) were from assault and 114 (9.4%) were from other external causes. Of note is the fact that for male deaths reported by the police, the age group with the highest number of deaths overall for males was the 25 to 29 years group with 207 or 17.1% of all male deaths.
In respect of the 159 female deaths reported by the police, the respective values and causes of deaths were as follows: 70 (44.0%) from transport accidents, 9 (5.7%) from suicides, 78 (49.1%) from assault and 2 (1.3%) from other external causes. Unlike the males the overall leading age group for females was the 30 to 34 years group with 25 (15.7%) total female deaths.
TABLE 15K: Summary of Male and Female Sudden and Violent Deaths Occurring by Cause and Age (1 - 100 years) for 2003
[1] Note that the numbering for the police data tables has been altered due to the inclusion of three new mortality tables
In 2003, there were 22,476 marriages registered in the island of Jamaica. This was a decline of 594 or 2.6% from the previous year’s total of 23,070. In respect of regional performance, the Western Region led with 9,375 (41.7%), followed by the North Eastern Region with 5,779 (25.7%), then the South Eastern Region with 5,361 (23.9%) and finally the Southern Region with 1,961 (8.7%).
In the previous year of 2002, the regions had contributions to the marriage total in descending order as follows: Western – 9,350 (40.5%), North Eastern – 6,389 (27.7%), South Eastern – 5,357 (23.2%) and Southern – 1,974 (8.6%). For 2001, the respective contributions were Western - 8,670 (38.9%), North Eastern – 6,019 (27.0%), South Eastern – 5,585 (25.0%) and Southern – 2,034 (9.1%).
The parishes recording the highest number of marriages were St. Ann, St. James and Westmoreland with 4,349 (19.3%), 4,229 (18.8%) and 2,833 (12.6%) respectively. Conversely, Portland had the least marriages with 284 or 1.3% of all the marriages occurring.
This trend was in keeping with that observed in 2002 and 2001 when St. Ann, St. James and Westmoreland led with 4,739 (20.5%), 4,387 (19.0%), 3,175 (13.8%) and 4,250 (19.1%), 4,083 (18.3%), 3,028 (13.6%) respectively. The parish with the lowest number of marriages was, however, St. Thomas with 300 (1.3%) in 2002 and 306 (1.4%) in 2001.
TABLE 17: Total Number of Marriages Registered During 2003
In the current year, the second quarter had the highest number of marriages with 6,178, next was the third quarter with 5,883, then the fourth with 5,739 and finally the first quarter with 4,676 marriages.
TABLE 16B: Marriages by Parish, By Quarter of Occurrence, 2003 and Percentages of TotalOver the past several decades, with the rapid growth of the tourism industry, Hotel marriages have become a significant contributor to the total number of marriages occurring in the island. The term “hotel marriage”, as used in the context of this publication, relates to any marriage occurring in the island, performed by a certified marriage officer of the island and taking place under the auspices of a hotel, villa, lodge, cottage or any other property designated to the purpose of tourist accommodation.
Under these specifications, it is thus understood that the term “hotel marriage” encompasses not only foreign nationals who chose to exchange nuptials here in Jamaica but also extends to Jamaican residents who get married in hotels. The former group, however, constitutes the majority of the hotel marriages. For future reports, the RGD expects to differentiate between these two groups in marriage statistics provided.
It is important to note also that only a little over half of all the marriages that are recorded in the island are actually local marriages. This explains the high number of total marriages recorded in parishes such as St. Ann, Hanover, St. James and Westmoreland, which are traditionally the main parishes that are utilised in the accommodation of tourists.
Hotel marriages totalled 10,037 or 44.7% of all marriages for 2003. Previously in 2002 and 2001, these marriages totalled 10,580 (45.9%) and 9,678 (43.4%). This indicates a decline of 543 or 5.1% from 2002 to 2003 and an increase of 902 or 9.3% from 2001 to 2002.
The parishes with the highest proportion of hotel marriage occurrences in 2003 were St. Ann, Hanover and Westmoreland with 3,128 or 71.9% of that parish’s 4,349 marriages being hotel marriages, 1,204 or 71.6% of 1,681 and 1,997 or 70.5% of 2,833 respectively. The top three parishes by percentage of hotel marriages in 2002, were Hanover with 910 or 74.2% of 1,227, St. Ann with 3,508 or 74.0% of 4,739, Westmoreland with 2,242 or 70.6% of 3,175 and in 2001, St. Mary led with 1,166 or 82.4% of 1,415, then came Westmoreland with 2,147 or 70.9% of 3,028 and finally St. Ann with 2,898 or 68.2% of 4,250.
In Chart 6, the six leading hotel marriage parishes are shown along with their respective totals for the year 2003. It can be seen that the top six performing parishes with respect to absolute contributions were St. Ann (3,128), St. James (2,575), Westmoreland (1,997), Hanover (1,204), St. Mary (592) and Trelawny with 279.
CHART 6: Hotel Marriages 2003 Occurrences in Six Leading Hotel Marriage ParishesThe term “solemnisation” refers to the type of licence or authority, which is used to legalise a marriage. In Jamaica there are five different types of authority under which a marriage may be solemnised: Marriage Officer’s Certificate, Special Marriage Licence, Minister’s Licence, Civil Registrar’s Certificate and Inarticulo Mortis.
Most persons are familiar with the Marriage Officer’s Certificate, which is usually used in the traditional Christian marriage ceremony. Here, the publication of a “Banns” as well as seven days notice are required. The Special Marriage Licence requires no Banns, however, notice is required and the parties to be married must be well known by the Marriage Officer. The Minister’s Licence is the authority of choice for most visitors to the island because there is no need for the Banns or a notice period. This authority is obtained at the Ministry of Security and Justice at a specified cost. Inarticulo Mortis simply refers to “death-bed” marriages which can be performed at no prior notice and if one of the parties believes himself or herself to be at the point of death. The Civil Registrar’s Certificate is used by Civil Registrars who are Marriage Officers that are appointed by the state on a non-religious basis.
2003, Marriage Officer’s Certificate accounted for 7,878 or 35.0%, Special Marriage Licence for 921 or 4.1%, Minister’s Licence for 13,206 or 58.8% and Civil Registrar’s Certificate for 471 or 2.1%. There were no Inarticulo Mortis marriages in the current year. Looking at 2002, the corresponding values were 7,985 (34.6%), 1,144 (5.0%), 13,585 (58.9%) and 354 (1.5%) respectively. There were two Inarticulo Mortis marriages in 2002. In 2001, it was a similar trend with values of 8,449 (37.9%), 1,232 (5.5%), 12,292 (55.1%) and 325 (1.5%). There were ten Inarticulo Mortis marriages in this year.
Table 16: Marriages Occurring in Each Parish by Quarter and Authority under which Marriages were Solemnised for 2003The months, which led in respect of number marriage occurrences in 2003, were December, August and June with 2,632 (11.7%), 2,473 (11.0%) and 2,113 (9.4%) respectively. The least popular month for marriage in the same year was January with 1,271 or 5.7% of the total marriages.
In 2002, a slightly different trend was observed, as December, June and July were the leading months with respect to marriages with totals of 2,691 (11.7%), 2,312 (10.0%) and 2,198 (9.5%) respectively. Conversely, September was least popular with 1,442 (6.3%) marriages in total.
December, June and July were also the leading months in 2001 with total marriages of 2,569 (11.5%), 2,357 (10.6%) and 2,169 (9.7%) respectively. October, however, recorded the lowest number of marriages for that year with 1,221 (5.5%).
TABLE 17: Total Number of Marriages Registered During 2003Another interesting facet of marriage statistics is the age distribution of groom and bride. In 2003, it is observed that 25-29, 30-34 and 35-39 are the age groups with the largest number of grooms with 5,278 (23.5%), 5,264 (23.4%) and 3,631 (16.2%) respectively. For brides in 2003, the largest age groups were 25-29, 30-34 and 20-24 with totals of 5,978 (26.6%), 4,771 (21.2%) and 3,873 (17.2).
In 2002, it was an identical trend with leading groom age group totals being 25-29 with 5,621 (24.4%), 30-34 with 5,564 (24.1%) and 35-39 with 3,624 (15.7%). Bride age group totals for the same year were 25-29 with 6,266 (27.2%), 30-34 with 5,135 (22.3%) and 20-24 with 3,951 (17.1%).
The previous year’s leading age groups for grooms were 25-29 with 5,468 (24.5%), 30-34 with 5,272 (23.6%) and 35-39 with 3,767 (16.9%). The leading bride age groups were 25-29 with 5,974 (26.8%), 30-34 with 4,978 (22.3%) and 35-39 with 3,767 (16.9%).
TABLE 18: Number of Males (Bride Grooms) and Females (Brides) Married By Age Groups and Showing Percentage of Total Marriages For 2003Looking at Table 18 showing joint ages for groom and bride, it can be seen that the age group for joint groom’s and bride’s age is for the groom and bride being in the 25-29 age group with 2,513 or 11.1% of all marriages recorded in 2003. From the table it can also be observed that for the majority of marriages occurring, most groom and bride pairings were from the same age group or the bride was in the group just below that of the groom.
TABLE 18A: Marriages by Joint Age of Groom and Age of Bride For 2003
In Graph 8, age group distribution is shown for grooms and brides for 2003 marriages. It is observed that for brides, the modal age group (25-29) has a significantly higher frequency than that for the modal group for grooms (25-29). Additionally, it can be seen that the spread of age distribution for brides fall more towards the younger ages than for grooms.
GRAPH 8: Age Group Distribution for Grooms and Brides for 2003In Table 20, the marriages occurring in 2003 are shown by parish of occurrence and denomination. Several denominations of interest are differentiated and the remainder are combined to form the “Other” category. As previously stated in the section discussing “Solemnisation”, Civil Registrar marriages are performed on a non-religious basis and therefore cannot be assigned to a denomination.
TABLE 20: Marriages by Denomination for Each Parish
The most marriages ascribed to a single denomination in the current year were for the United Church with a total of 2,821 (12.6%). Following this were the Baptist and Apostolic groups with 2,393 (10.6%) and 2,066 (9.2%) respectively. In the same year, other denominations had a total of 8,950 marriages or 39.8% and all denominations totalled 21,632 or 96.2%.
For 2002, however, the leading denomination with respect to marriage occurrences was Baptist with 3,250 (14.1%). Next were the United Church and Apostolic groups with 2,856 (12.4%) and 2,060 (8.9%). In that year also other denominations totalled 7,929 or 34.4% and the total for all denominations was 22,249 or 96.4%.
In the following denomination table, marriages are shown by month of occurrence for each denomination group. Here it is observed that for the Anglican, Apostolic, Baptist, Moravian and United Church groups the leading month for marriage occurrence was August. For the Methodist, Roman Catholic, Seventh Day Adventist, Other and Civil Registrar groups, the leading month was December. In the remaining groups, Assembly of God, Church of God and Salvation Army groups, the leading month was May. Noteworthy is also the fact that the total marriages performed by the Assemblies of God for May and June and by the Apostolic for August and December were equal.
TABLE 20A: Marriages by Denomination for Each Month
Table 20b shows marriages for 2003 by authority and denomination groups. It is observed here that for every group the Minister’s Licence was the authority used for the most marriages except for Methodist, Moravian, Salvation Army and Seventh Day Adventist, which had the leading authority being the Marriage Officer’s Certificate.
The divorce data in this report is sourced from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), who in turn sources their information from the Supreme Court. Consequently, the analysis of divorce data as provided is not afforded as in depth a treatment as for other vital data reported on in this publication. The commentary is, however, beneficial in that it takes the form of a concise but effectual review of the data.
In the current year under review, there were 1,600 divorces absolute granted by the Jamaican courts, all on the grounds of Irretrievability. This reflects a decline of 145 or 8.3% from the 1,745 granted in 2002. In the previous year, there had been a minimal increase of 54 or 3.2% comparing 2002 to the total of 1,691 granted in 2001.
TABLE 1 G: Divorces Absolute Granted - 1997 to 2003
Throughout the seven-year period, the total number of divorces absolute granted has fluctuated, however, the general trend has been an upward one as can be seen in the table above and accompanying graph. The total began in 1997 at 1,266, after which there was an increase of 154 or 12.2 to 1,420 in the following year. In 1999, there was a moderate decrease of 289 or 20.4% to 1,131. This was followed by a less significant decline of 25 or 2.2% to 1,106 in 2000. There was a sharp increase for 2001 and slight increase in 2002 of 585 (52.9%) and 54 (3.2%) to 1,691 and 1,745 respectively, the total for 2002 being the highest for the seven year period.
In respect of divorces absolute granted by age and sex of partner, it is observed that a total of 803 males and 797 females were granted divorces. This is a 50.2% to 49.8% ratio. It is also observable that the largest group of males being divorced was the 40-49 years age group with 282 or 35.1% of all males. The largest group of females was from the 30-39 years age group with 267 or 33.5% of all females.
The joint age of partners table reveals that the largest joint groups by each male partner age group category were for male and female partner both being 25-29, 30-34 and 35-39 years with 37, 75 and 111 respectively. Then for male being 40-44 and female being 35-39 with 105, male being 45-49 and female being 40-44 with 79, both male and female being 50-59 with 146 and both partners being 60 and over with 78. The largest group by any measure for all joint age groups was the male and female being 50-59 with 146.
TABLE 22: Divorces Absolute Classified by Joint Ages of Partners at Divorce for 2003
When age of female partner and duration of marriage are considered together, it can be seen where the highest number of divorces were granted to parties where the female partner was under 25 years old and the marriage lasted for 5-9 years with 164 such divorces. The second highest group was for under 25 year old female partners and marriages for 25 years and over with 149 of these.
In respect of age of male partner and duration of marriage, the largest group was for male partner being 25-29 and duration of marriage being 5-9 years with 144 such divorces. The second largest group was for the male partner being 25-29 years as well and duration of marriage being 10-14 years with 124.
For the 1,600 divorces absolute granted in 2003, there were 1,484 male partners and 1,516 female partners being single before the current marriage now being made dissolute. There were 17 males and 15 females previously being widowed and 99 males and 69 females previously divorced.
TABLE 25: Divorces Absolute Classified By Previous Marital Status and Age at Marriage For 2003
For the second consecutive year, the Registrar General’s Department has successfully produced its Annual Vital Statistics report using its electronic database. The process of vital statistics production from this relatively newly established means is understandably still in its early phase of development, and consequently a higher degree of accuracy and completeness is to be realised in the future. The Agency is resolute in its commitment to pursue further measures will ensure the continued development of its vital statistics production process.
The Registrar General’s Department is pleased to present the 2004 Annual Vital Statistics Report to its valued stakeholders. In the Agency’s continued effort to improve upon its delivery of timely and accurate vital statistics, we have included several additional components to the publication which will enhance its assimilation for the reader:
We have enjoyed exceptional collaboration with all our interest groups and look forward to continued partnership in the years to come. We are grateful to all those who have participated in respect of these alliances. The Agency is committed to the initiation and support of both national and international objectives which seek to place emphasis on Jamaica’s civil registration and vital statistics systems.
We do indeed aim to satisfy.
Yours sincerely,
Patricia Holness (Dr.)
Chief Executive Officer
Registrar General and Deputy Keeper of the Records
Appreciation must be extended to all individuals and organisations who contributed in any way to the completion of this publication.
We are especially grateful for contributions from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), the Ministry of Health (MOH), the Office of the Commissioner of Police and the Supreme Court.
Additionally, we recognise in particular the efforts of the dedicated and devoted staff members of the RGD.
Thanks also, to all hospitals, police officers, Courts officers, funeral homes, Local District Registrars (LDRs), Marriage Officers and hoteliers.
Appreciation must be extended to all individuals and organisations who contributed in any way to the completion of this publication.
We are especially grateful for contributions from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), the Ministry of Health (MOH), the Office of the Commissioner of Police and the Supreme Court.
Additionally, we recognise in particular the efforts of the dedicated and devoted staff members of the RGD.
Thanks also, to all hospitals, police officers, Courts officers, funeral homes, Local District Registrars (LDRs), Marriage Officers and hoteliers.
Introduction
As the sole entity responsible for Civil Registration and the National Vital Statistics Database for Jamaica, the main mandate of the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) is to ensure that each vital event (birth, death or marriage) that occurs in the country or in its waters is registered. It is also important that the vital statistics from these registrations be correct and accurate and that it be made available to the relevant persons on a timely basis. This is made possible by approximately 330 Local District Registrars and 1,400 Marriage Officers affiliated with the RGD.
In order for the vital statistics system to function optimally, civil registration must be an effective and efficient driving force behind it. The first tangible result of the change from manual to electronic methods of data storage and manipulation by RGD was the publication of the 2002 Vital Statistics Annual Report. This marked the initiation of vital statistics reporting from RGD’s electronic database.
This step was significant since prior to its advent, the data for 1995 to 2001 was prepared manually by accessing the physical registrations and compiling the data using electronic spreadsheets. In addition the majority of the procedures of compilation and production of the vital statistics were also manual. This meant that there was a greater chance of the data being incorrect and that the time for generation would also not be in keeping with the national standards.
The technological improvements at RGD, where data management is concerned, must and will continue. Coupled with this must be the integration of the efforts of all organisations that in any way play a part in civil registration.
Concerted collaboration between RGD and its various stakeholders is not a new concept, however, in the past few years specific programs geared toward this have been organised and successfully executed. Ultimately, the goal is for Jamaica’s entire national registration system to be fully functional, with very limited opportunity for a vital event that has occurred not to be registered in a timely manner.
In the past, several challenges have marred the performance of the country’s civil registration system. The timeliness of birth registration is sometimes affected in cases where the mother fails to settle hospital fees. In respect of death registrations, the delay is often due to the prolonged process which often accompanies the investigation and documentation of sudden or violent deaths. The documents needed to register these deaths are issued by the island’s Coroner’s Courts and Police Department.
Some of these inherent problems will have to be solved through legislation. Until the necessary reforms come to fruition, however, the RGD has in the interim, implemented numerous measures to help to alleviate the situation.
In respect of deaths, as stated above the RGD realises that delay in or prevention of registration is often due to either a lag in the processes in the courts or police department or simply due to a lack in the knowledge of the relatives of the deceased. These relatives are often not sufficiently informed on how to register the death or become frustrated with the process itself.
The documents needed for death registration are mentioned in detail in Types of Certification under the Deaths section of this report. Generally speaking however, sudden and violent deaths are usually registered using either a Post Mortem Examination Report, a Certificate of Coroner (Form D) or a Coroner’s Certificate of Findings of the Jury (Form E).
The RGD has initiated a collection campaign for all outstanding Post Mortem Examination Reports and Form Ds yet at the Resident Magistrates’ Courts. These documents are then checked against the existing death registrations to ensure that the specific deaths were not previously registered. Once this is established, the process of registration commences. What is different about this new registration process is that the RGD no longer waits for a relative or another person to come in with the document to initiate registration. In these cases, the Coroner who issues the document is entered as the Informant[1].
In addition to the timely capture of the data, the importance of the accuracy and correctness of the data must not be neglected. In respect of this, the greatest challenge that is presently being faced also involves death registrations, specifically the cause of death. In past reports, the ICD-10 “Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified” or (R00-R99) category was attributed to a significant number of deaths. This misleading phenomenon was also as a result of the tardiness of the Legal system with respect to death certification. Thus, many death registrations had no information entered for cause of death. Below is a table showing the number of R00-R99 cases for 1995 to 2004 (bearing in mind that a portion of these are legitimate R99 classifiable deaths).
The correction of this undesirable result is now being dealt with, however, and the high incidence of the “R99” ICD-10 code is decreasing year by year as seen previously. There are other concerns with the cause of death data provided by medical personnel and pathologists, however. In addition to the perennial problem of illegibly handwritten Medical Certificates of Cause of Death, the quality of the cause of deaths information on death certification documents are often not up to International standards. One of the common problems includes the apparent masking or failure of the reporting of the incidence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) for some decedents. In some cases, an unaccepted term or abbreviation for the condition known unofficially by medical doctors is cited on the document. Another challenge is that deaths caused by external causes, such as wounding, are often not specified with respect to intent (whether self-inflicted, accidental or assault). This is an increasingly important aspect of cause of death data which is poorly reported in Jamaica and indeed the Caribbean. In the near future the RGD will be intensifying its efforts to train the relevant professionals in order to eliminate the challenges as described.
The processes involved in the civil registration and vital statistics systems of Jamaica are currently in various phases of transition. It is envisioned that in the near future all these processes will individually be vastly improved and operate together both efficiently and effectively. This will facilitate a greater level of compatibility between the vital statistics produced by the country and that produced by the rest of the World.
Further improvements in the 2004 report:
For the 2004 Annual report the following are additions to the range of tables already reported on in reports for previous years:
Births
Table 6b Live Births Registered in 2004 Showing Late Registrations by Parish
Table 8a Live Births Occurring in 2004 by Parish of Occurrence and Live Birth Outcome
Deaths
Table 12a Deaths Occurring in 2004 by Parish and Place of Death
Table 15n Summary of Adult Female Deaths (5 - 100 years) by Cause and Parish of
Residence of Deceased for 2004
Table 15o Summary of Adult Male Deaths (5 - 100 years) by Cause and Parish of
Residence of Deceased for 2004
Table 15p Leading Causes of Deaths for All Adults (5 - 100 years) by Cause and
Parish of Residence of Deceased for 2004
In addition, a “Guide to Tables” has been included before each set of data for Births, Deaths, Marriages and Divorces for ease of reference.
[1] All death registrations, except those registered from Form Es, require an Informant at registration.
In order to facilitate consistency in comparison and analysis of data used in the Annual Vital Statistics Reports, the following commonly used terms are defined below:
Births Registered All live births registered during the current calendar year. (Irrespective of year of occurrence, therefore these include late registrations.)
Births Occurring All live births occurring in the current calendar year. (Registered up to February of the following year for Preliminary reports and then up to December of the following year for the Final Report.)
Deaths Registered All deaths registered in the current calendar year. (Irrespective of year of occurrence, therefore these include late registrations.)
Deaths Occurring All deaths occurring in the current calendar year. (Registered up to February of the following year for Preliminary reports and then up to December of the following year for the Final Report.)
Jamaica’s mean population continued to increase in 2004. It rose from 2,630,371 in 2003 to 2,644,604 in 2004, an increase of 14,233 or 0.5%. Previously, it had increased from 2,617,459 which was a magnitude of 12,912 also 0.5%. The country’s population growth rate over the past six years has averaged 0.6%.
POPULATION
Estimated Population and Annual Movement
The end of year population in 2004 stood at 2,650,900 which was a slight increase of 12,600 or 0.5 % from the previous year’s total of 2,638,300. Over the six-year period as shown in Table 1, the end of year population has consistently increased by an average of 0.5% from year to year for 1999 to 2004.
The net external movement, which speaks to the number of persons added to the population after taking the island’s emigration and immigration totals into account, decreased minimally from 1999 to 2002 but then increased significantly in 2003 then did not change significantly in 2004.
TABLE 1: ESTIMATED POPULATION AND ANNUAL MOVEMENT IN 1999 TO 2004
The total deaths registered from 1999 to 2004 showed a steady decline over the six-year period. Total births registered remained constant around 54,000 for 1999, 2000 and 2001. In 2002, there was a significant decrease to 48,104 and in the following two years there were minimal decreases.
Population Growth Rate
As previously mentioned, the population growth rate for Jamaica averaged 0.5% for 1999 to 2004. In 1999, the population stood at 2,581,700; however, by 2004 it had risen to 2,650,900.
TABLE 1a: POPULATION GROWTH RATE FOR 1999 TO 2004
In respect of the parishes’ mean populations, Kingston and St. Andrew led with a total of 658,515, then St. Catherine with 486,302 and Clarendon with 240,592. The parishes with the lowest populations were Hanover and Trelawny with totals of 66,518 and 73,103 respectively.
The trends for the rates per population of registered vital events reveal interesting facts. In respect of live births per population, the leading parishes were Manchester, St. James and St. Ann with 29.5, 22.5 and 21.7 respectively. Conversely Hanover had the lowest rate at 7.9. For deaths, the top three parishes were Manchester, Kingston and St. Andrew and St. James with 7.2, 6.4 and 6.3, while St. Catherine had the lowest with 3.7. Parishes with high rates of marriage included the hotel-rich parishes of Hanover, St. Ann and St. James with rates of 25.2, 23.1 and 22.5. Clarendon had the lowest rate of marriage at 3.1. Westmoreland, Portland and Manchester led stillbirth rates with 20.0, 19.8 and 17.7 respectively while St. Thomas had no stillbirths being registered in 2004.
TABLE 2: ESTIMATED POPULATION OF PARISHES- LIVE BIRTHS, DEATHS, MARRIAGES, STILL BIRTHS AND CORRESPONDING RATES FOR 2004
Crude Birth Rate
As a part of the continued improvement of the quality of data presented in Annual Reports, Crude Birth Rate (CBR) is now calculated using live birth occurrences, whereas in the past registration totals were utilised due to the delay in a large percentage of birth registrations. The incidence of delay is now at significant lower levels than in previous years. In 1997 CBR peaked at 21.6, this being the highest for the eight-year period. It decreased to 20.0 in 1998 and continued a steady decline in the following years to 19.0, 18.8, 18.5, 16.9, 16.5 and finally to 16.1 in 2004.
TABLE 1b: CRUDE BIRTH RATE FORLIVE BIRTHS REGISTERED-1997 TO 2004
The number of live births registered in Jamaica decreased by 1,603 or 3.3% in 2004 to 45,980 compared with 47,583 in 2003. The month of January has since 2001 made the highest contribution of 11% to total births registered. In 2004, however, the month of March had the most registrations contributing 9.8% followed by January with 9.7%.
Kingston, Manchester and St. Catherine were the leading parishes contributing 9,692 (21.1%), 5,702 (12.4%), 5.596 (12.2%) live birth registrations respectively. Together, they were responsible for 45.7% of the total registrations. These parishes have excelled in these positions since 1999. The parish of Hanover has continued contribute least registrations, recording 527 (1.1%). This can be attributed to the fact that Hanover has the lowest population distribution.
TABLE 3A: LIVE BIRTHS REGISTERED IN 2004 BY PARISH AND MONTH OF REGISTRATION
The year 2004 recorded the occurrences of 42,448 live births in Jamaica, 959 or 2.2% less than 2003 which had a total of 43,407. The number of live births occurring has been on a downward trend reflecting a decrease of 12.9% since 2000 when there was a record total of 48,717.
In Graph 1 indicates the monthly trend for each parish is seen for live birth occurrences.
GRAPH 1: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2004 BY PARISH AND MONTH OF OCCURRENCE
The last quarter prevailed in recording the highest live birth occurrences. The month of October placed first with 4,320 (10.2%), December was next with 4,161 (9.8%) and November followed closely in third place with 4,153 (9.8%) of the total. In 2003, the first and last quarter took the top places as October, January and November recorded 4,197 (9.7%), 4,147 (9.6%) and 4,025 (9.3%) respectively.
TABLE 3: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURING IN 2004 BY PARISH AND MONTH OF OCCURENCE
A total of 23,462 male and 22,516 female live births were registered in 2004, yielding a sex ratio of 1,042 males per 1,000 females (or male to female ratio of 51 to 49) compared to 2003 sex ratio of 1038 (or male to female ratio of 51 to 49). The annual sex ratio has changed very little over the past few years. Nevertheless, substantial differences exist in the sex ratios on the parish and regional levels.
The parish of Portland has once again recorded the highest sex ratio in live birth registrations with 1,154 males per 1,000 females (or 53.6 to 46.4 male to female ratio) It is interesting to note, that the parishes of St. Thomas and Westmoreland recorded the lowest sex ratios of 989 and 987 respectively (or male to female ratio of 49.7 to 50.3); and were exceptional as they were the only parishes showing females dominating males. The North Eastern Region had the highest sex ratio of 1054 (or male to female ratio of 51.3 to 48.7), and Western with the lowest of 1,022 (or male to female ratio of 50.5 to 49.5).
Similarly, live birth occurrences had a sex ratio of 1,041 males per 1,000 females (or a male to female ratio of 51 to 49). The same parishes and regions highlighted remained in their respective positions of highest and lowest in the recording of sex ratios (Portland 1,186; St Thomas and Westmoreland, 991 and 993 respectively; North Eastern region with 1069; and Western now shared position with Southern at 1,016.
The sex ratios for registrations and occurrences by parish of residence of mother generally reflect a similar trend. Slight variations existed as only the parish of Westmoreland showed females dominating males and the South-Eastern region dominated in sex ratio for live birth registrations.
TABLE 3b: LIVE BIRTHS REGISTERED IN 2004 BY PARISH AND SEX
TABLE 3c: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURING IN 2004 BY PARISH AND SEX
TABLE 3d: LIVE BIRTHS REGISTERED IN 2004 BY PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHER AND SEX OF CHILD
TABLE 3e: LIVE BIRTH OCCURING IN 2004 BY PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHER AND SEX OF CHILD
A total of 23,462 male and 22,516 female live births were registered in 2004, yielding a sex ratio of 1,042 males per 1,000 females (or male to female ratio of 51 to 49) compared to 2003 sex ratio of 1038 (or male to female ratio of 51 to 49). The annual sex ratio has changed very little over the past few years. Nevertheless, substantial differences exist in the sex ratios on the parish and regional levels.
The parish of Portland has once again recorded the highest sex ratio in live birth registrations with 1,154 males per 1,000 females (or 53.6 to 46.4 male to female ratio) It is interesting to note, that the parishes of St. Thomas and Westmoreland recorded the lowest sex ratios of 989 and 987 respectively (or male to female ratio of 49.7 to 50.3); and were exceptional as they were the only parishes showing females dominating males. The North Eastern Region had the highest sex ratio of 1054 (or male to female ratio of 51.3 to 48.7), and Western with the lowest of 1,022 (or male to female ratio of 50.5 to 49.5).
Similarly, live birth occurrences had a sex ratio of 1,041 males per 1,000 females (or a male to female ratio of 51 to 49). The same parishes and regions highlighted remained in their respective positions of highest and lowest in the recording of sex ratios (Portland 1,186; St Thomas and Westmoreland, 991 and 993 respectively; North Eastern region with 1069; and Western now shared position with Southern at 1,016.
The sex ratios for registrations and occurrences by parish of residence of mother generally reflect a similar trend. Slight variations existed as only the parish of Westmoreland showed females dominating males and the South-Eastern region dominated in sex ratio for live birth registrations.
TABLE 3b: LIVE BIRTHS REGISTERED IN 2004 BY PARISH AND SEX
TABLE 3c: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURING IN 2004 BY PARISH AND SEX
TABLE 3d: LIVE BIRTHS REGISTERED IN 2004 BY PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHER AND SEX OF CHILDTABLE 3e: LIVE BIRTH OCCURING IN 2004 BY PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHER AND SEX OF CHILD
Since the 1995 publication, the number of children born in wedlock has varied between 12 – 18% of live births occurring in Jamaica. For this current year, 2004, births in wedlock totalled 6,835 or 16.1% and out of wedlock 35,613 or 83.9%. These figures were on par with 2003 which saw in wedlock at 7,107 or 16.4% and out of wedlock at 36,300 or 83.6% of live births occurring.
Of the total live births occurring, both in wedlock and out of wedlock, 54.7% were to fathers who had their particulars entered on the birth registration form; an increase of 0.5% over that of 2003. Of illegitimate births, that is births out of wedlock, only 16,397 or 38.6% father’s accepted paternity, an increase of 0.8% over 2003. Furthermore, of these out of wedlock occurrences, 16,324 or 99.6% were to father’s registered on signature, otherwise known as “A and B” registration, and the remaining 73 or 0.4% were on Declaration or “Status”. In comparison, 2003 saw a similar experience with 99.1% registered on “A and B” and 0.9% on “Status” registrations. (Table 4)
The agency continues to increase its efforts to educate fathers of the importance of having their particulars entered on their child’s birth record. Its efforts are been rewarded as the proportion of father’s registered from the “out of wedlock” category has increased. Since 1999, the percentage of these fathers registered for births out of wedlock has increased from 36.7% in 1999 to 46.0% in the current year. However, there is still more progress to be made and the agency continues to include in its efforts the use of regularly presented educational programmes in the electronic media, along with outreaches to schools and other relevant interest groups.
(Table 4)
TABLE 4: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURING IN 2004 BY PARISH OF OCCURRENCE SHOWING IN WEDLOCK AND OUT WEDLOCK
It is of utmost importance that all registrations take effect in a timely manner, as this aids the agency and ultimately policy makers in social, educational and health planning for the country.
The agency has continually advised the public to ensure that registration of a vital event, be it birth or death, happens immediately or within three months after such occurrence. However, registration can be effected up to twelve months outside of this time limit and still would be regarded as on being on time. Once twelve months have elapsed such a registration would be deemed “late” and can only be effected upon the Registrar General issuing an “Authority for Late Registration” to the Local District Registrar.
Table 6 gives a breakdown of 2004 live birth occurrences illustrating those registered in the same month of occurrence and the delay in registration which appears in categories of up to three months and over three months up to twelve months. Of the 42,448 births which occurred, 16,903 or 39.8% were registered within the same month. This indicates that same month registrations were on par with 2003 which had 17,292 or 39.8%.
The delay in registrations under one year but over three months indicates an improvement of 9.1% as there were 2,810 or 6.6% such registrations compared to 6,809 or 15.7 % in 2003. Such prompt response in registration can be attributed to the fact that 98.1% of live births for this current year occurred in institutions. As a result the local district registrars upon receiving the notification of birth would begin the registration process. This is the first year we have experienced such low percentage delay since the 1995 publication.
Examination of the percentage delay on a parish level reveals that St. Catherine has been recording the highest delay since 2001. In 2004, St. Catherine recorded 37.2% of its live births as percentage delay for over three months and under one year. Though this is a slight decline of 3.1% down from the previous year’s delay of 40.3%, this is nonetheless unfavourable considering that 93.8% of its live births occurred in institutions. Next in line in respect of delays were the parishes of Clarendon with 7.4%, St. James with 6.1% and St. Elizabeth with 2.7%
There were parishes however, which were very prompt in there recording and experienced delay of less than one per cent: St. Andrew, St. Mary and Hanover each had 0.8% delay; St. Thomas and Portland each 0.6% and Westmoreland with the lowest recording of 0.1%. Overall, congratulations are in order to the stakeholders for this great level of improvement as this is the lowest delay in registrations recorded since the 1995 publication. It is anticipated that all parishes realise a delay of less than 1% for registrations over three months and over one year.
(Table 6)
TABLE 6: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURING IN 2004 BY PARISH AND SHOWING TIME OF REGISTRATION
Table 6a, a table which first originated in the 2000 report provides very useful information for analysis of time of registration. Of the 45,980 live birth registrations in 2004, 36,753 or 79.9% occurred in the same year of registration an increase of 2% over 2003. The parishes of St. Andrew, St. Thomas, Portland and Westmoreland had over 90% of their live births which were registered in the same year of occurrence. However, on average those registered in 2004, but occurred in 2003 accounted for 14.1% of all live births.
(Table 6a)
TABLE 6a: LIVE BIRTHS REGISTERED IN 2004 SHOWING LATE REGISTRATIONS BY PARISH
In Table 6b, the year’s registrations are categorised by the time span between the date of occurrence and the date of registration. So for all the live births registered in 2004, those “within one year of occurrence” or “on time registrations” as the name suggests, are those live births that were registered no later than one year after the occurrence of the event. “Late registrations” are those that were registered later than one year of occurrence of the live birth. For 2004, it is observed that 43,125 or 93.7% of the 45,980 live births registered in 2004 were “on time” or registered within one year of the occurrence of the vital event.
(Table 6b)
TABLE 6b: LIVE BIRTHS REGISTERED IN 2004 SHOWING LATE REGISTRATIONS BY PARISH
It is of utmost importance that all registrations take effect in a timely manner, as this aids the agency and ultimately policy makers in social, educational and health planning for the country.
The agency has continually advised the public to ensure that registration of a vital event, be it birth or death, happens immediately or within three months after such occurrence. However, registration can be effected up to twelve months outside of this time limit and still would be regarded as on being on time. Once twelve months have elapsed such a registration would be deemed “late” and can only be effected upon the Registrar General issuing an “Authority for Late Registration” to the Local District Registrar.
Table 6 gives a breakdown of 2004 live birth occurrences illustrating those registered in the same month of occurrence and the delay in registration which appears in categories of up to three months and over three months up to twelve months. Of the 42,448 births which occurred, 16,903 or 39.8% were registered within the same month. This indicates that same month registrations were on par with 2003 which had 17,292 or 39.8%.
The delay in registrations under one year but over three months indicates an improvement of 9.1% as there were 2,810 or 6.6% such registrations compared to 6,809 or 15.7 % in 2003. Such prompt response in registration can be attributed to the fact that 98.1% of live births for this current year occurred in institutions. As a result the local district registrars upon receiving the notification of birth would begin the registration process. This is the first year we have experienced such low percentage delay since the 1995 publication.
Examination of the percentage delay on a parish level reveals that St. Catherine has been recording the highest delay since 2001. In 2004, St. Catherine recorded 37.2% of its live births as percentage delay for over three months and under one year. Though this is a slight decline of 3.1% down from the previous year’s delay of 40.3%, this is nonetheless unfavourable considering that 93.8% of its live births occurred in institutions. Next in line in respect of delays were the parishes of Clarendon with 7.4%, St. James with 6.1% and St. Elizabeth with 2.7%
There were parishes however, which were very prompt in there recording and experienced delay of less than one per cent: St. Andrew, St. Mary and Hanover each had 0.8% delay; St. Thomas and Portland each 0.6% and Westmoreland with the lowest recording of 0.1%. Overall, congratulations are in order to the stakeholders for this great level of improvement as this is the lowest delay in registrations recorded since the 1995 publication. It is anticipated that all parishes realise a delay of less than 1% for registrations over three months and over one year.
(Table 6)
TABLE 6: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURING IN 2004 BY PARISH AND SHOWING TIME OF REGISTRATION
Table 6a, a table which first originated in the 2000 report provides very useful information for analysis of time of registration. Of the 45,980 live birth registrations in 2004, 36,753 or 79.9% occurred in the same year of registration an increase of 2% over 2003. The parishes of St. Andrew, St. Thomas, Portland and Westmoreland had over 90% of their live births which were registered in the same year of occurrence. However, on average those registered in 2004, but occurred in 2003 accounted for 14.1% of all live births.
(Table 6a)
TABLE 6a: LIVE BIRTHS REGISTERED IN 2004 SHOWING LATE REGISTRATIONS BY PARISH
In Table 6b, the year’s registrations are categorised by the time span between the date of occurrence and the date of registration. So for all the live births registered in 2004, those “within one year of occurrence” or “on time registrations” as the name suggests, are those live births that were registered no later than one year after the occurrence of the event. “Late registrations” are those that were registered later than one year of occurrence of the live birth. For 2004, it is observed that 43,125 or 93.7% of the 45,980 live births registered in 2004 were “on time” or registered within one year of the occurrence of the vital event.
(Table 6b)
TABLE 6b: LIVE BIRTHS REGISTERED IN 2004 SHOWING LATE REGISTRATIONS BY PARISH
In 2004 the largest age group of mother giving birth was the 20-24 group with 11,596 or 27.3% of the live births. Next were the 25-29 and 15-19 groups with 9,407 (22.1%) and 7,956 (18.7%) respectively. A similar trend was observed in the previous year with the same group contributions as follows: 20-24 with 11,954 (27.5%), 25-29 with 9,362 (21.6%) and 15-19 with 8,110 (18.7%).
As expected and as has been the past trend, the contribution from each live birth order decreases as the birth order increases. So the largest group overall would be the first born, then second born, third born and continuing in the same pattern as live birth order increases. Consequently, the two largest individual cohorts belong to the first born group for mother being in the 15-19 and 20-24 age groups with 6,456 and 5,078 respectively. Previously these groups also led with 6,430 and 4,949 respectively.
Of interest in the current year were occurrences of a mother in the 15-19 age group having her third child, one in the 35-39 group having her thirteenth child, another three in the 45-49 group each having their thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth child respectively and finally one mother from the 50 and over group having her fifth child.
(Table 9)
When the live birth order by parish of occurrence pattern is examined, it is observed that for each parish, except one, the largest group of mothers comes from the 20-24 group. As has been the case for the past several years, St. Andrew is the only parish to depart from this trend as its largest age group is the 25-29 group. This is an interesting phenomenon which occurs each year. A possible reason for it could be that a significant portion of the mothers who give birth in institutions in St. Andrew come from more affluent sections of the populace and delay having children until later years when compared to other parishes.
(Table 9a)
Looking at Table 9b, however, it is observed that for all parishes of residence of mothers, the largest group belongs to the 20-24 group. Thus a more accurate pattern is shown with mother’s parish of residence data with regard to age group patterns of mothers giving birth in the year. The parishes with the largest percentages for the 20-24 age group were Westmoreland with 30.7% and St. Thomas with 29.6%.
(Table 9b)
TABLE 9: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2004 BY AGE OF MOTHER AND LIVE BIRTH ORDER
TABLE 9a: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2004 BY AGE OF MOTHER AND PARISH OF OCCURRENCETABLE 9b: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2004 BY AGE OF MOTHER AND BY PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHER
In 2004 the largest age group of mother giving birth was the 20-24 group with 11,596 or 27.3% of the live births. Next were the 25-29 and 15-19 groups with 9,407 (22.1%) and 7,956 (18.7%) respectively. A similar trend was observed in the previous year with the same group contributions as follows: 20-24 with 11,954 (27.5%), 25-29 with 9,362 (21.6%) and 15-19 with 8,110 (18.7%).
As expected and as has been the past trend, the contribution from each live birth order decreases as the birth order increases. So the largest group overall would be the first born, then second born, third born and continuing in the same pattern as live birth order increases. Consequently, the two largest individual cohorts belong to the first born group for mother being in the 15-19 and 20-24 age groups with 6,456 and 5,078 respectively. Previously these groups also led with 6,430 and 4,949 respectively.
Of interest in the current year were occurrences of a mother in the 15-19 age group having her third child, one in the 35-39 group having her thirteenth child, another three in the 45-49 group each having their thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth child respectively and finally one mother from the 50 and over group having her fifth child.
(Table 9)
When the live birth order by parish of occurrence pattern is examined, it is observed that for each parish, except one, the largest group of mothers comes from the 20-24 group. As has been the case for the past several years, St. Andrew is the only parish to depart from this trend as its largest age group is the 25-29 group. This is an interesting phenomenon which occurs each year. A possible reason for it could be that a significant portion of the mothers who give birth in institutions in St. Andrew come from more affluent sections of the populace and delay having children until later years when compared to other parishes.
(Table 9a)
Looking at Table 9b, however, it is observed that for all parishes of residence of mothers, the largest group belongs to the 20-24 group. Thus a more accurate pattern is shown with mother’s parish of residence data with regard to age group patterns of mothers giving birth in the year. The parishes with the largest percentages for the 20-24 age group were Westmoreland with 30.7% and St. Thomas with 29.6%.
(Table 9b)
TABLE 9: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2004 BY AGE OF MOTHER AND LIVE BIRTH ORDER
TABLE 9a: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2004 BY AGE OF MOTHER AND PARISH OF OCCURRENCE
TABLE 9b: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2004 BY AGE OF MOTHER AND BY PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHER
Deaths Registered
For the year 2004, there were 14,050 deaths registered. This was 889 less than the previous year’s total of 14,939, a decrease of 6.0%. The total number of death registrations in 2002 was very similar to that observed in 2003 at 14,931.
As has been the trend for previous years, the percentage contributions of the four regions to death registrations in 2004 were as follows: South Eastern with 6,496 (46.2%), Southern with 3,235 (23.0%), Western with 2,424 (17.3%) and finally North Eastern with 1,895 (13.5%).
The years 2003 and 2002 had comparable percentage and absolute regional contributions when they had the respective values of 7,317 (49.0%) and 6,929 (46.4%) for South Eastern, 3,139 (21.0%) and 3,343 (22.4%) for Southern, 2,468 (16.5%) and 2,540 (17.0%) for Western and 2,015 (13.5%) and 2,119 (14.2%) for North Eastern.
The three leading parish with respect to volume of registrations were again St. Andrew, Kingston and St. Catherine with 2,224 (15.8%), 1,980 (14.1%) and 1,778 (12.7%). Together, these parishes accounted for 42.6% of all deaths registered in the year. The circumstance was similar in 2003 when the contributions from these parishes were respectively 2,621 (17.5%), 2,286 (15.3%) and 1,821 (12.2%). In 2002, the leading parishes were Kingston with 2,314 (15.5%), St. Andrew 2,222 (14.9%) and St. Catherine with 1,800 (12.1%).
Regarding monthly death registration totals, January had the highest number in the current year with 1,442 (10.3%) as had been the case for 2003 and 2002, when it had 1,560 (10.4%) and 1,492 (9.9%) respectively. Additionally, months with high registrations in 2004 were March with 1,249 (8.9%) and June 1,240 (8.8%). In 2003, December and February followed with 1,350 (9.0%) and 1,294 (8.7%). In 2002, the months which followed January were July and October with 1,407 (9.3%) and 1,293 (8.6%) respectively.
(Table 10a)
TABLE 10a: DEATHS REGISTERED IN 2004 BY PARISH AND MONTH OF REGISTRATION
For this current reporting year, in addition to reporting place of death for registered deaths, it is also reported for 2004 occurrences. The same basic trends are seen in both tables.
As in previous reports, the place of death is categorised into three types: Public Hospital, Private Hospital. Public Hospitals are government-run institutions, that is, funded by the government while Private, as the name suggests, are supported by non-government or private persons or entities. For the purpose of this report, public and private health institutions are listed in the Appendices. All other places of deaths which are not special health institutions as listed here are classified as “Other”.
In the table showing registered death, it is observed that the parishes with the highest percentages of deaths registered and taking place in public hospitals were Kingston (80.2%), St. James (60.4%) and St. Thomas (48.8%) of their respective parish totals. The leading parishes in respect of private institutions were Kingston, St. Andrew and St. James with 8.1%, 5.8% and 5.8% respectively. For death in other places, the leading parishes were all from the Southern Region: Manchester (84.0%), St. Elizabeth (78.5%) and Clarendon (61.7%).
The average percentages for all parishes were Public (46.4%), Private (3.3%) and Other (50.3%). For the regions, the respective percentages were as follows: South Eastern - 57.2%, 4.7% and 38.1%, North Eastern – 43.4%, 1.1% and 55.5%, Western – 50.5%, 3.3% and 46.2% and Southern – 23.2%, 2.0% and 74.8%.
A comparable trend was seen for deaths occurring in the year 2004 where the parishes with the highest percentages of public deaths were for the same three parishes as for deaths registered with 81.5% (Kingston), 61.6% (St. James) and 51.0% (St. Thomas) for their respective parish totals. For private hospitals, the leading parishes were also the same: Kingston, St. Andrew and St. James with 8.3%, 6.0% and 6.0%. For other places of death, the top three parishes were again Manchester (84.2%), St. Elizabeth (77.8%) and Clarendon (61.2%).
The overall island percentages were Public (46.7%), Private (3.4%) and Other (49.9%). For regional percentages, these were as follows: South Eastern – 58.3%, 4.9% and 36.8%, North Eastern – 43.2%, 1.0% and 55.8%, Western – 51.0%, 3.3% and 45.8% and Southern – 23.4%, 2.0% and 74.7%.
TABLE 12: DEATHS REGISTERED IN 2004 BY PARISH AND PLACE OF DEATH
TABLE 12a: DEATHS OCCURRING IN 2004 BY PARISH AND PLACE OF DEATH
Live births to mothers under 15 totalled 278 and to the 15-19 group totalled 7,956. Together these accounted for 8,234 or 19.4% of all births. In the previous year, the under 15 group had 311 while the 15-19 had 8,110 which totalled 8,421 or 19.4% of the births in that year.
As expected, the single largest cohort belonged to the 15-19 group of mothers who were giving birth to their first live born with 6,456 or 15.2% of all births. In 2003 this cohort had 6,430 or 14.8%. This indicates an increase of 0.4 percentage points for 2004 compared to 2003. For the previous three years the percentage of these births had progressively decreased.
In respect of parish of occurrence, the parishes with the highest percentage of its birth to all mothers 19 and under were Trelawny and Hanover with 25.2% and 22.8%. The parish with the lowest percentage was St. Andrew with 6.3%. Examining this data trend for parish of residence of mother, it is observed that Trelawny still led with 23.8% of its births to mothers 19 and under followed by Clarendon with 21.8% while the parish with the smallest percentage was St. Catherine with 16.0%.
(Tables 9, 9a and 9b)
In Chart 1, it can be seen that for age groups 15-19, 20-24, 30-34 and 35-39, there were slight decreases from 2003 to 2004 in respect of the number of live births to mother in each age category. In the under 15 and 25-29 groups there were no significant changes. In 2003, the picture differed when decreases were registered from 2002 to 2003 for age groups 15-19, 25-29 and 30-34; the under 15 and 35-39 age groups did not show changes while the 20-24 group was the sole category to experience an increase.
CHART 1: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2003 VS. 2004 FOR MOTHERS OF AGE GROUPS UNDER 15 YEARS TO 35-39 YEARS
Chart 2 focuses on the comparison for 2003 and 2004 live births to mothers in the 15-19 age group for first to fourth birth orders. First born births increased slightly from 2003 to 2004. Conversely second born births decreased slightly for the same period. The third born group also showed a minimal decline. In respect of the mean totals for each group per year, mothers in the 15 to 19 age group having their first child averaged around 6,400. The group of the same age having their second child averaged around 1,400. The third born category averaged below 200 while on the chart, the number for fourth born was negligible.
CHART 2: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURING IN 2003 vs 2004 FOR TEENAGE MOTHERS (15-19 YEARS OLD)
In Graph 2, the percentage change in the number of live births to mothers in the 15-19 age group having their first to fourth child for the period 2003 to 2004 is shown. For three of the four live birth orders, there were negative percentage changes from 2003 to 2004. There was a slight percentage increase of 0.4 for first born for the period, however, progressively larger percentage decreases were recorded for second, third and fourth born to 15-19 year olds at the following magnitudes: -8.5%, -22.2% and -38.1% respectively. In the previous one-year comparison for 2002 to 2003, there were percentage decreases for the first, second and third born groups (-2.7%, -11.9% and -10.7% respectively) but a significant percentage increase for fourth born at 50.0%.
GRAPH 2: PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN NUMBER OF LIVE BIRTHS TO TEENAGE MOTHERS (15-19 YEARS OLD) FOR THE PERIOD 2003-2004
As indicated in last year’s report, two terms frequently used in the Mortality sections are “adult” and “infant”. The term “adult” as used in the context of this publication, refers to all individuals of the age 5 years and over. The term “infant” by international standards usually refers to individuals under 1 year old. For ease of identification in this analysis, however, individuals under 1 year as well as those 1 to 4 years are referred to as “infants”. In Tables 14 to 14b, “infant” and “pre-school” deaths are referred to. Here, infant denotes the traditional “under 1 year” definition while “pre-school” relates to all other individuals in the under 5 age group.
There was a total of 14,050 deaths registered in 2004 and of that number 6,857 (48.8%) were adult males, 6,606 (47.0%) were adult females, 310 (2.2%) were infant males and 277 (2.0%) were infant females. In the previous year, the proportions were only slightly different at 7,408 (49.6%), 6,910 (46.2%), 341 (2.3%) and 280 (1.9%) respectively.
In 2004, adult deaths totalled 13,463 (95.8%) and infant deaths, 587 (4.2%). The previous year’s respective figures were 14,318 (95.8%) and 621 (4.2%).
TABLE 14a: DEATHS FOR INFANT AND PRE-SCHOOL MALES BY CAUSE AND AGE FOR 2004
TABLE 14b: DEATHS FOR INFANT AND PRE-SCHOOL FEMALES BY CAUSE AND AGE FOR 2004
TABLE 15a; SUMMARY OF ADULT FEMALE DEATHS BY CAUSE AND AGE (5-100 YEARS) FOR 2004
TABLE 15c; SUMMARY OF ADULT MALE DEATHS BY CAUSE AND AGE (5-100 YEARS) FOR 2004
Chart 4 shows the age / sex distribution for 2004. It varies slightly from last year’s ratio of 50:46:2:2 and now reflects one of 49:47:2:2.
CHART 4: DEATHS REGISTERED IN 2004 BY PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL DEATHS IN EACH MAJOR AGE/SEX CATEGORY
Crude Death Rate, as shown in the table below, fluctuated over the 1997 to 2004 eight-year period. It increased from 5.9 in 1997 to a high of 6.7 in 1999 and then displayed a general downward trend from that year to the rate of 5.3 in the current year.
TABLE 1e: CRUDE DEATH RATE FOR 1997 TO 2004
There were 13,364 deaths which occurred in 2004 and are registered. The previous year had 14,667 death occurrences which indicates a decrease of 1,303 or 8.9% from 2003 to 2004. The 2004 total was also less than the 14,042 in 2002 by 678 or 4.8%.
As with population and live birth trends, the regional contributions were in the expected order of South Eastern, then Southern, Western and North Eastern. Additionally, the four regions fluctuated over the three-year period of 2002 to 2004. In 2004, the death occurrence regional totals respectively were 6,128 (45.9%), 3,158 (23.6%), 2,237 (16.7%) and 1,841 (13.8%). In 2003, they were 7,134 (48.6%), 3,114 (21.2%), 2,436 (16.6%) and 1,983 (13.5%). In 2002, the contributions were 6,405 (45.6%), 3,198 (22.8%), 2,426 (17.3%) and 2,013 (14.3%).
In 2004, the three leading months for death occurrences were January, June and October with 1,352 (10.1%), 1,178 (8.8%) and 1,174 (8.8%) respectively. In 2003, January, December and March led with 1,451 (9.9%), 1,331 (9.1%) and 1,257 (8.6%) respectively. The situation differed in 2002, however, as the leading months were July, October and April with 1,369 (9.7%), 1,262 (9.0%) and 1,216 (8.7%) respectively.
TABLE 10: DEATH OCCURRING IN 2004 BY PARISH AND MONTH OF OCCURRENCE
In addition to examining cause of deaths with respect to individual causes, it is also meaningful to look at the distribution of deaths across the major categories. Deaths are collated according to the nineteen major cause categories of the ICD-10 system.
As with the previous year’s distribution pattern, “Diseases of the circulatory system”, “Neoplasms” and “Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases” were the three leading major categories for adult females in 2004. They had the following respective contributions: 2,561 (38.8%), 1,250 (18.9%) and 1,180 (17.9%); percentages being of the total number of adult female deaths. In 2003 these categories also led with: 2,614 (37.8%), 1,222 (17.7%) and 1,087 (15.7%). For the “Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases” category, the total is elevated mainly due to the presence of Diabetes mellitus in the category.
The top three major categories for adult female deaths accounted for 4,991 or 75.6% of all adult female deaths in 2004. For the previous year, they accounted for 4,923 or 71.2%.
TABLE 15e: ADULT FEMALE DEATHS SHOWING MAJOR CATEGORIES BY CAUSE AND AGE (5-100 YEARS) FOR 2004
The corresponding data for adult male deaths was similar in that the three leading categories were the same. Their contributions were as follows: “Diseases of the circulatory system” with 2,275 (33.2%), “Neoplasms” with 1,548 (22.6%) and “Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases” with 692 (10.1%). The two leading major categories were the same for the previous year: “Diseases of the circulatory system” with 2,317 (31.3%) and “Neoplasms” with 1,638 (22.2%). The third leading category, however, was “Diseases of the respiratory system” with 629 (8.5%).
The three leading major categories combined totalled 4,515 or 65.9% of all adult male deaths. Previously it had been 4,584 or 61.9%.
TABLE 15f: ADULT MALE DEATHS SHOWING MAJOR CATEGORIES BY CAUSE AND AGE (5-100 YEARS) FOR 2004
The combined data for adult males and females yielded the same results for the three leading cause of deaths. “Diseases of the circulatory system” were attributed to 4,836 (35.9%), “Neoplasms” with 2,798 (20.8%) and “Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases” with 1,872 (13.9%). This is comparable to the previous year’s values of 4,931 (34.4%), 2,860 (20.0%) and 1,711 (11.9%) respectively.
As outlined in previous reports, deaths which occur in Jamaica require certification by a qualified medical officer, doctor or pathologist. This process involves the determination of the events of cause of death as well as its documentation, along with all relevant demographic data for the deceased. This must be done according to the prescribed format under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act. The various forms of death certification include Medical Certificate of Cause of Death, Post Mortem Examination Report, Certificate of Coroner (Form D) or Coroner’s Certificate of the Findings of the Jury (Form E).
The Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death is normally completed by a medical doctor or officer who had been overseeing the care and/or treatment of the decedent and had last done so no more than six months before death had occurred. The essential purpose of the Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death is that the officer who completes and certifies it is reasonably certain of the cause of death of the decedent that he or she enters on it. If, for instance, someone was recently under the care of a physician and then died unexpectedly or suddenly, the physician might be in some doubt as to whether the morbid or disease condition, for which he or she had been attending the deceased prior to death, really was sufficient to cause the demise. In this case, a post mortem may become necessary.
As outlined in previous reports, deaths which occur in Jamaica require certification by a qualified medical officer, doctor or pathologist. This process involves the determination of the events of cause of death as well as its documentation, along with all relevant demographic data for the deceased. This must be done according to the prescribed format under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act. The various forms of death certification include Medical Certificate of Cause of Death, Post Mortem Examination Report, Certificate of Coroner (Form D) or Coroner’s Certificate of the Findings of the Jury (Form E).
The Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death is normally completed by a medical doctor or officer who had been overseeing the care and/or treatment of the decedent and had last done so no more than six months before death had occurred. The essential purpose of the Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death is that the officer who completes and certifies it is reasonably certain of the cause of death of the decedent that he or she enters on it. If, for instance, someone was recently under the care of a physician and then died unexpectedly or suddenly, the physician might be in some doubt as to whether the morbid or disease condition, for which he or she had been attending the deceased prior to death, really was sufficient to cause the demise. In this case, a post mortem may become necessary.
As has been the procedure since 2002, the RGD receives Sudden and Violent death data from the Jamaica Constabulary Force, specifically through the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) and includes the presentation of this data along with data from RGD’s database. The CCN provides the RGD with data from its database for the specified reporting year for the following Sudden and Violent death categories: i) Fatal Shootings, ii) Motor Vehicle Accidents, iii) Murder and iv) Suicide.
The deaths reported by the Police are presented in this section, by themselves and also combined with RGD’s death data. Only police data which is unique to RGD’s data is added however, since some of these deaths have already been registered by the RGD.
There were a total of 1,981 deaths reported by the police in 2004. In the previous year, 1,560 deaths were reported which indicates a significant increase of 421 or 27.0%. A total of 1,679 were reported in 2002 which indicated a minimal decline of 119 or 7.1% from 2002 to 2003. Overall from 2002 to 2004 there was an increase of 302 or 18.0%.
· Regions
For 2004, as is expected, the South Eastern region accounted for 1,274 or 64.3% of all deaths reported by the police. In the previous year, this region had 952 or 61.0% of the 1,560 deaths for the entire island. This is an absolute increase of 322 or 33.9% from 2003 to 2004.
Of all South Eastern deaths, Kingston, St. Andrew and St. Catherine accounted for 1,238 or 97.2% of that region’s deaths or 62.5% of the island’s deaths. For 2003, the corresponding value was 916 or 96.2% of regional total and 58.8% of all police-reported deaths.
In respect of the remaining regions, the Western region had 317 (16.0%) police-reported deaths, the Southern region had 256 (12.9%) and the North Eastern had 134 or 6.8%. In 2003, the respective values were: Western – 282 (18.1%), Southern – 226 (14.5%) and North Eastern – 100 (6.4%).
Examination of the data by month of occurrence, reveals that October and June were the leading months with 200 deaths (10.1%) and 199 deaths (10.0%) respectively. Conversely, March had the lowest number with 121 or 6.1%.
TABLE 15h: SUDDEN AND VIOLENT DEATHS OCCURRING IN 2004 BY PARISH AND MONTH OF OCCURRENCE (AS REPORTED BY THE POLICE)
As mentioned at the beginning of this section, the police-reported deaths are matched against RGD’s database. This is done using certain key identifier fields. Table 15j is a result of this matching process and is a summary of the police-reported data without these matches. Of the 1,981 death total for 2004, there were 199 matches and the unique police-reported deaths totalled 1,782. In the previous year, there were 191 matches and 1,369 unique death occurrences.
TABLE 15i: SUDDEN AND VIOLENT DEATHS OCCURRING IN 2004 BY PARISH AND MONTH OF OCCURRENCE (ADJUSTED FOR THOSE REGISTERED)
The next process was to combine the unique data with RGD’s death occurrences for 2004. Table 15j therefore is a combination of Table 10 and 15i. This is the addition of the 13,364 (Table 10) and 1,782 (Table 15i) which totals 15,146 deaths. This complement represents all 2004 death occurrences. For 2003, the combination of RGD and police-reported data totalled 16,036.
TABLE 15j: TOTAL DEATHS OCCURING IN 2004 BY PARISH AND MONTH OF OCCURRENCE (RGD AND POLICE DATA COMBINED)
TABLE 15k: SUMMARY OF MALE AND FEMALE SUDDEN AND VIOLENT DEATHS OCCURING BY CAUSE AND AGE (1-100 YEARS) FOR 2004· Males
Of all 1,782 unique police-report deaths, 1,579 or 88.6% of the deceased were males. Of this total, there were 240 victims of “Transport accidents”, 31 of “Intentional self harm”, 1,202 of “Assault” and 106 of “All other external causes”. Previously there were 1,210 (83.4%) male police-reported deaths, 270 of which were due to “Transport accidents”, 43 due to “Intentional self harm”, 783 due to “Assault” and 114 due to “All other external causes”. Immediately, it is observed that the only category that increased was “Assault”.
TABLE 15l: SUMMARY OF MALE SUDDEN AND VIOLENT DEATHS OCCURRING BY CAUSE AND AGE (1-100 YEARS) FOR 2004· Females
Of the 1,782 unique police-report deaths, 203 or 11.4% of the deceased were females. Of this total, there were 63 victims of “Transport accidents”, 9 victims of “Intentional self harm” and 131 victims of “Assault”. Previously, there were a total of 159 police-reported deaths, “Transport accidents” caused 70 deaths, “Intentional self harm” caused 9, “Assault” caused 78 and “All other external causes” caused 2 deaths. Again, the only category to increase was “Assault”.
TABLE 15m: SUMMARY OF FEMALE SUDDEN AND VIOLENT DEATHS OCCURRING BY CAUSE AND AGE (1-100 YEARS) FOR 2004
This is the most recently added section of the report. It presents data on the deaths registered in the current reporting year by cause of death and parish of residence of deceased. When considering facets of vital statistics, it is thought to be more beneficial to consider location of residence rather than location of occurrence of the event. In the utilisation of vital statistics in planning, the location of occurrence lends itself to offer direct information on exactly where services are needed and where preventative programs need to be implemented. Therefore, in the case of births, data on parish of residence of mother can indicate where an additional hospital or birthing facility is needed. Trends in mortality data by residence of deceased can also inform as to the degree to which the residence of specific areas are being affected and by which diseases.
The new tables presented in this section of the report present mortality data for adults (individuals 5 years and over) by cause according to ICD-10 and by parish of residence of deceased. The data is presented for all deaths registered in 2004.
Table 15n shows all adult female deaths by cause and parish of residence of deceased. Here, the distributions across each parish can be seen for each ICD-10 category for the 6,606 adult female deaths.
Table 15o shows all adult male deaths by cause and parish of residence of deceased. The distributions for these deaths are seen for the 6,857 adult male deaths.
Table 15p shows the fourteen leading causes of deaths for all adults (previously presented in Table 15d) by cause and parish of residence of deceased.
TABLE 15n: SUMMARY OF ADULT FEMALE DEATHS (5-100 YEARS) BY CAUSE AND PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF DECEASED FOR 2004
TABLE 15o: SUMMARY OF ADULT MALE DEATHS (5-100 YEARS) BY CAUSE AND PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF DECEASED FOR 2004
TABLE 15p: LEADING CAUSES OF DEATHS FOR ALL ADULTS (5-100 YEARS) BY CAUSE AND PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF DECEASED FOR 2004
Chart 6 shows a summary of the data from this table for the ten leading causes of deaths for adults and their distribution across each parish. It can be observed that “Cerebrovascular disease” and “Diabetes mellitus” both make significant contributions to each parish’s death total. Additionally, for Kingston and St. James, “Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease” also contributed a significant number of deaths toward those parishes’ top ten totals.
CHART 6: TEN LEADING CAUSES OF DEATHS SHOWING PERCENTAGE CONTRIBUTION TO EACH PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF DECEASED FOR 2004 DEATH REGISTRATIONS
Over the 1997 to 2004 eight-year period, total deaths registered fluctuated between a high of 17,387 in 1999 to a low of 14,050 in the current reporting year. The highest increase was experienced in 1999 with 1,190 or 7.3% of the previous year. The highest decrease was in the year 2002 with a decline of 1,273 or 7.9%. The total decline from 1997 to 2004 was by 1,037 or 6.9%.
TABLE 1f: TOTALS FOR DEATHS REGISTERED BY PARISH FOR 1997 TO 2004
Graph 7 The individual trends for each parish are seen for the period. Kingston exhibits the highest degree of fluctuation, reaching a high of about 3,000 death registrations in 1999 and a low of around 2,000 in 2004. St. Andrew also reaches a high of around 3,000 in 1999 and reaches its low of around 2,000 in 2002 and 2004. St. Catherine also fluctuated, but to a lesser degree, its highest level of death registration also being in 1999 with about 2,200 and its least being about 1,800 in 2004.
GRAPH 7: DEATHS REGISTERED BY PARISH AND YEAR FOR 1997 TO 2004
The rest of the parishes fluctuated also and all fell under the 1,500 mark. Over the period, the largest overall increase was seen in Manchester with 321 or 30.1%. St. Andrew, however, saw the largest decrease with 523 or 19.0%.
In Chart 5, the trends in total deaths registered are shown for all parishes over the eight-year period. The same observations are seen as in Graph 7 for Kingston, St. Andrew and St. Catherine. In respect of details for the other parishes it can be seen that St. Thomas was generally constant around a little over 500 deaths. Portland fluctuated minimally around the 450 mark. St. Mary increased and then decreased through 1997 to 2004 and averaged around 650. Westmoreland showed a general trend of decline from 906 to 685. Hanover declined from 365 to 296 with an average of 330 deaths. St. James fluctuated drastically with a high of 1,464 in 2000 and a low of 1,001 in 2003 and averaged 1,233. Trelawny was generally constant with an average of 395 deaths. Clarendon fluctuated from a high of 1,193 in 2001 to a low of 974 in 1997. Manchester averaged 1,309 but also saw a significant overall increase of 321. Finally, St. Elizabeth fluctuated around a high of 873 in 2001 and a low of 679 in the current reporting year.
CHART 5: DEATHS REGISTERED BY PARISH AND YEAR OF REGISTRATION FOR 1997 TO 2004
Graph 8 shows total deaths registered in each year from 1997 to 2004. The total is seen to fluctuate over the eight-year period. It increases sharply in 1998 from 15,087 to 16,197. In the following year, it again increases significantly to 17,387. In 2000, it declines sharply to 16,338 and minimally in 2001 to 16,204. The year 2002 sees another significant decline to 14,931 while in 2003 there is no significant change when a total of 14,939 were registered. In the current year, there is another significant decline to 14,050.
PH 8: TOTAL DEATHS REGISTERED FOR YEARS 1997-2004
Sudden and violent deaths as the name suggests, are those in which the person dies suddenly or unexpectedly, such as in the case described immediately above and also includes accidental deaths. Violent deaths are those occurring under criminal circumstances. All such deaths deemed to be “sudden” or “violent” fall under the jurisdiction of the law and require that a pathologist or equivalent officer perform a post mortem examination. From this examination, the Post Mortem Examination Report is completed and issued. Usually from this Post Mortem Examination Report, a Certificate of Coroner or Form D is completed, authorised by the Coroner’s Court. In cases where culpability of a crime must be investigated, then a Form D will be issued in the interim showing the cause of death. However, after a Coroner’s Inquest is complete then a Coroner’s Certificate or Form E is issued. The category “Uncertified Death” speaks to those death registrations, most of which are incomplete, that have no associated document as previously described. Due to the delay in obtaining the Post Mortem Examination Report, Form D or Form E in some “sudden and violent death” cases, the process known as “incomplete death registration” has evolved in response to this problem. Upon receipt of the proper supporting document for the death from the prescribed authorities, the registration is then completed and the event recorded in the vital statistics database.
For 2004 death registrations, 13,276 (94.5%) were certified by Medical Certificate of Cause of Death, 637 (4.5%) by Form D, 125 (0.9%) were uncertified, 11 (0.1%) by Form E and only one was certified by Post Mortem Report.
TABLE 11: DEATH REGISTERED IN EACH PARISH BY TYPE OF CERTIFICATION FOR 2004
In 2004, there were 21,670 marriages registered in Jamaica. This is a decline of 806 or 3.6% from the previous year’s total of 22,476. In 2002, a total of 23,070 marriages were registered. This indicates a decline of 594 or 2.6% from 2002 to 2003 and an overall decline of 1,400 or 6.1% from 2002 to 2004.
The Western region again led the regional contribution to the marriage total with 9,005 or 41.6%. Next came the North Eastern, South Eastern and Southern regions with 5,536 (25.5%), 5,187 (23.9%) and 1,942 (9.0%) respectively. In 2003, the regional trend was the same with the contributions for Western being 9,375 (41.7%), North Eastern with 5,779 (25.7%), South Eastern with 5,361 (23.9%) and Southern with 1,961 (8.7%).
TABLE 2: ESTIMATED POPULATION OF PARISHES-LIVE BIRTHS, DEATHS, MARRIAGES, STILL BIRTHS AND CORRESPONDING RATES FOR 2004
The three leading parishes for marriages in 2004 were St. James, St. Ann and Westmoreland with 4,075 (18.8%), 3,969 (18.3%) and 2,719 (12.5%) respectively. The parish with the least marriages was Portland with 258 or 1.2%. In the previous year, there were slight differences with the leading parishes being St. Ann with 4,349 (19.3%), St. James with 4,229 (18.8%) and Westmoreland with 2,833 (12.6%). Portland was in last position with 284 marriages or 1.3%.
Examination of the marriages by quarter reveals that the second quarter led with 5,961 (27.5%), followed by the third quarter with 5,330 (24.6%), then the fourth quarter with 5,233 (24.1%) and finally the first quarter with 5,146 (23.8%). In the previous year, this was the same trend with the respective contributions: second quarter – 6,178 (27.5%), third quarter – 5,883 (26.2%), fourth quarter – 5,739 (25.5%) and first quarter with 4,676 (20.8%).
TABLE16b:MARRIAGES BY PARISH, BY QUARTER OF OCCURRENCE, 2004, AND PERCENTAGES OF TOTAL
Since the early days of the tourism industry of Jamaica in the nineteen fifties until present day, tourism continues to be an important part of the country’s economy. As a result of sustained marketing of Jamaica’s product and even in the face of social instability due to the country’s increasing crime problem, tourists continue to visit the island in significant numbers.
Many of these visitors choose to exchange nuptials during their stay in Jamaica. In this report, all marriages which take place in hotels, villas, lodge, cottage or any other related commercial residential property are deemed to be “Hotel” marriages. By virtue of this definition, locals who get married in hotels are also included in these statistics. It is believed, however, that the percentage of locals in this group is very small.
Hotel marriages totalled 9,566 or 44.1% in 2004 while the remaining marriages totalled 12,104 or 55.9%. This was a minimal deviation from the previous year’s totals and percentages of 10,037 or 44.7% for Hotel marriages and 12,439 or 55.3%.
The parishes with the highest percentages of hotel marriages were Westmoreland, St. Ann, Hanover and St. James with 1,998 (73.5%), 2,711 (68.3%), 1,102 (65.8%) and 2,550 (62.6%) of those parishes totals respectively. In 2003, these four parishes led, however, in different positions: St. Ann with 3,128 (71.9%), Hanover with 1,204 (71.6%), Westmoreland with 1,997 (70.5%) and St. James with 2,575 (60.9%).
TABLE 16a: TOTAL MARRIAGES BY PARISH FOR HOTELS AND OTHERS AND PERCENTAGES OF TOTAL FOR 2004
Chart 7 shows the six leading parishes for hotel marriages in 2004. The parishes in descending order of number of hotel marriages are: St. Ann with 2,711, St. James with 2,550, Westmoreland with 1,998, Hanover with 1,102, St. Mary with 739 and Trelawny with 210.
In the previous year, the respective values were: St. Ann with 3,128, St. James with 2,575, Westmoreland with 1,997, Hanover with 1,204, St. Mary with 592 and Trelawny with 279.
CHART 7: HOTEL MARRIAGES 2004 OCCURRENCES IN SIX LEADING HOTEL MARRIAGE PARISHES
The data presented in Table 8 mainly represents a quarterly summary of the data previously presented in Tables 4 and 5: gender, marital status and institutional births. Additionally, quarterly live birth outcome data is presented. The quarter with the largest number of live birth occurrences for 2004 was the October to December quarter with 12,634, followed by the July to September, January to March and April to June quarters with 10,715, 10,115 and 8,984 respectively.
In respect of live birth outcomes, there were 41,648 singletons, 810 sets of twins and 4 triplets. This is comparable to the previous year’s totals of 42,511 singletons, 439 twins and 6 triplets.
(Table 8)
In respect of the parish of occurrence of the live births by outcome, it can be observed that the triplets occurred in Kingston and St. Catherine, two in each parish. For twins, the parishes with the highest occurrence were Kingston and Manchester with 81 and 59 respectively. Portland had the least with only one set of twins.
(Table 8a)
TABLE 8: QUARTERLY STATISTICS OF LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2004 SHOWING GENDER, MARITAL STATUS AND LIVE BIRTH OUTCOMES
TABLE 8a: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURRING IN 2004 BY PARISH OF OCCURRENCE AND LIVE BIRTH OUTCOME
It is well established that giving birth in a medical institution under the care and supervision of trained health-care providers promotes survival of infants and reduces the risk of maternal mortality. As a result, more mothers are now opting to give birth in institutions. Since 1995, our publications have been attested to this fact, births outside of institutions has moved from a high of 15.1% in 1995 to a record low of 1.9% in 2004.
As shown in table 5, of the 42,448 live births occurring, 39,451 or 92.9% occurred in public institutions, 2,187 or 5.2% in private institution. Together institutional deliveries totalled 41,638 or 98.1% and out of institutions 810 or 1.9%. When compared to 2003, institutional deliveries have increased by 2.5%.
The number of qualified attendants, which include medical doctors, nurses or midwives, present at deliveries has been on the increase. The year 2004, saw doctors accounting for 8,679 or 20.4%; registered midwives 33,239 or 78.3%; together both groups attended to 98.7% of live births unqualified attendants 489 or 1.2% Births; and persons of unknown qualification 41 or 0.01%.
Of key interest, doctors at delivery increased by 2.3% over 2003. Since our 1995 publication Doctors attending deliveries have been increasing by a maximum of 2% creating a shift in some of the live births deliveries to doctors. As a result there has been a total increase of 10.8% in doctors attending deliveries from 9.6% in 1995 to 20.4% in 2004.
(Table 5)TABLE 5: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURING IN INSTITUTIONS AND OUT OF INSTITUTION AND ATTENDANT AT DELIVERY FOR 2004
As has been characteristic of previous years, the level of coincidence of parish of occurrence of live birth and parish of residence of mother was high for most parishes. St. Catherine, St. Thomas,
As has been characteristic of previous years, the level of coincidence of parish of occurrence of live birth and parish of residence of mother was high for most parishes. St. Catherine, St. Thomas, Portland, Hanover, Trelawny, Clarendon and St. Elizabeth all had over 95% coincidence. The other seven parishes had coincidences of below 88% with Kingston and Manchester having the lowest at 20.4% and 54.2% respectively.
There were seven mothers whose residence was outside of Jamaica at the time of the birth of their child. Two resided in Canada, two in Turks and Caicos, and one each in Antigua, the United States of America and Dominica.
Turning to the absolute values for the individual parishes, the leading parish was again St. Andrew with 8,251 of those live births to mother residing in that parish. St. Catherine and Clarendon followed with 6,974 and 4,064 respectively.
(Table 7 and 7a)
From Table B, interesting observations can be made. Though St. Andrew, St. Catherine and Clarendon have the highest absolute values for live births to mother residence, the values for live births per 1,000 of each parish’s population relate another trend. Here the leading parishes are all from the Western Region: Hanover, Westmoreland and St. James with 19.3, 17.9 and 17.7 respectively.
(Table B)
TABLE B: LIVE BIRTHS HSOWING PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHER AND CORRESPONDING RATES PER POPULATION FOR 2004
TABLE 7: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURING IN 2004 BY PARISH OF OCCURRENCE AND PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHERTABLE 7a: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURING IN 2004 BY PARISH OF OCCURRENCE AND PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHER BY PERCENTAGES
There were seven mothers whose residence was outside of Jamaica at the time of the birth of their child. Two resided in Canada, two in Turks and Caicos, and one each in Antigua, the United States of America and Dominica.
Turning to the absolute values for the individual parishes, the leading parish was again St. Andrew with 8,251 of those live births to mother residing in that parish. St. Catherine and Clarendon followed with 6,974 and 4,064 respectively.
From Table B, interesting observations can be made. Though St. Andrew, St. Catherine and Clarendon have the highest absolute values for live births to mother residence, the values for live births per 1,000 of each parish’s population relate another trend. Here the leading parishes are all from the Western Region: Hanover, Westmoreland and St. James with 19.3, 17.9 and 17.7 respectively.
(Table B)
TABLE B: LIVE BIRTHS HSOWING PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHER AND CORRESPONDING RATES PER POPULATION FOR 2004
TABLE 7: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURING IN 2004 BY PARISH OF OCCURRENCE AND PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHER
TABLE 7a: LIVE BIRTHS OCCURING IN 2004 BY PARISH OF OCCURRENCE AND PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF MOTHER BY PERCENTAGES
In 2004 eight parishes had over 90% of their deaths being registered in the same parish as the parish of residence of the deceased. These were St. Catherine, St. Thomas, Portland, Westmoreland, Hanover, Trelawny, Clarendon and St. Elizabeth. In the previous reporting year, only one additional parish, St. Mary, had over 90% coincidence. The parish of Kingston deviated drastically from this trend as it had only 33.2% coincidence and most of its death registrations were for persons who resided in St. Andrew at 41.1% of all its registrations.
TABLE 13: TOTAL DEATHS REGISTERED IN 2004 CLASSIFIED BY PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF DECEASED
For 2004 death occurrences, the trend was the same for the eight parishes mentioned in the previous paragraph. For Kingston, it had 32.9% coincidence and 41.4% of its deaths were persons who resided in St. Andrew.
13a: TOTAL DEATHS OCCURRING IN 2004 CLASSIFIED BY PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF DECEASED
In Jamaica, a marriage must be legalised or “solemnised” by way of a document known as the licence or authority. Currently there are five types used: Marriage Officer’s Certificate, Special Marriage Licence, Minister’s Licence, Civil Registrar’s Certificate and Inarticulo Mortis. The particulars of these licences are explained in the Appendices.
In 2004, there were 7,793 (36.0%) marriages solemnised using the Marriage Officer’s Certificate, 1,032 (4.7%) using Special Marriage Licence, 12,435 (57.4%) using Minister’s Licence, 410 (1.9%) using Civil Registrar Certificate and there were no Inarticulo Mortis marriages. In the previous year, there were 7,878 (35.0%) marriages using Marriage Officer’s Certificate, 921 (4.1%) using Special Marriage Licence, 13,206 (58.8%) using Minister’s Licence, 471 (2.1%) using Civil Registrar’s Certificate and there were also no Inarticulo Mortis marriages. Due to the convenience of the Minister’s Licence, it is usually the licence of choice for tourist marriages, making its contribution relatively high when compared to the other types of licences.
TABLE 16: MARRIAGES OCCURRING IN EACH PARISH BY QUARTER AND AUTHORITY UNDER WHICH MARRIAGES WERE SOLEMNISED FOR 2004
As with the previous year’s trend, the age groups with the highest number of grooms in 2004 were the 25-29, 30-34 and 35-39 with 5,149 (23.8%), 4,975 (23.0%) and 3,457 (16.0%) respectively. In 2003, these same groups had respective totals of 5,278 (23.5%), 5,264 (23.4%) and 3,631 (16.2%). In 2002, they had 5,621 (24.4%), 5,564 (24.1%) and 3,624 (15.7%) respectively.
In respect of brides married in 2004, the leading age groups were the 25-29, 30-34 and 20-24 with respective values of 5,782 (26.7%), 4,593 (21.2%) and 3,651 (16.8%). The same age groups led in the same order for 2003 with 5,978 (26.6%), 4,771 (21.2%) and 3,873 (17.2%). In the previous year these age groups had totals of 6,266 (27.2%), 5,135 (22.3%) and 3,951 (17.1%) respectively.
TABLE 18: NUMBER OF MALES (BRIDEGROOMS) AND FEMALES (BRIDES) MARRIED BY AGE GROUPS AND SHOWING PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL MARRIAGES FOR 2004
Graph 9 shows age group distribution for grooms and brides for marriages performed in 2004. From the distribution it can be observed that the modal group for both groom and brides is the 25-29 group. As was seen in the previous year, the distribution of brides tends to the left of the grooms’ distribution indicating that overall the group of brides were younger than the set of grooms that were married in 2004.
GRAPH 9: AGE GROUP DISTRIBUTIONS FOR GROOMS AND BRIDES FOR 2004
For the 2004 marriage data by joint age of groom and bride, the largest age group cohort is that of the groom and the bride being 25-29 years with 2,487 (11.5%) such marriages. The next largest one was for the groom being 30-34 and the bride being 25-29 with 1,772 (8.2%) marriages. In the third position was the cohort with the groom and bride being 30-34 years with 1,746 (8.1%).
In the previous year, there was a similar situation with the leading cohort being that of the groom and bride being 25-29 years with 2,513 (11.2%) such marriages. Next was the group with the groom and bride being 30-34 with 1,886 (8.4%). In third was the cohort with the groom being 30-34 and the bride being 25-29 years with 1,854 (8.2%) marriages.
TABLE 18a: MARRIAGES BY JOINT AGE OF GROOM AND AGE OF BRIDE FOR 2004
For the 2004 marriage data by joint parish of residence of groom and bride, the data is presented in Table 19. It shows that for most parishes the level of coincidence between parish of residence of both groom and bride was above 90% for all parishes except Kingston and Clarendon where it was 79.7% and 89.9% respectively.
St. James had the highest number of grooms and brides residing in that parish both separately and jointly, with totals of 3,955 brides from that parish, a total of 3,940 grooms from that parish and a total of 3,888 couples who were both from that parish.
TABLE 19: MARRIAGES BY JOINT PARISH OF RESIDENCE OF BRIDEGROOMS AND BRIDE FOR 2004
The three most popular months for marriages in 2004 were July with 2,318 (10.7%), June with 2,275 (10.5%) and December with 2,216 (10.2%). Conversely, September had the least marriages with 899 or 4.1%.
In 2003, the top three months were December, August and June with 2,632 (11.7%), 2,473 (11.0%) and 2,113 (9.4%) and the least popular month was January with 1,271 or 5.7%.
For 2002, December, June and July led with 2,691 (11.7%), 2,312 (10.0%) and 2,198 (9.5%) while September had the lowest number at 1,442 (6.3%).
TABLE 17: TOTAL NUMBER OF MARRIAGES REGISTERED DURING 2004
In respect of denomination of the marriages occurring in 2004, the single leading categories overall were Church of God (2,521), Baptist (2,315) and United Church (2,310). Note that the “Other” category, which comprises all other denominations not specified in Table 20, led with 7,915 marriages.
CHART 8: 2004 MARRIAGES SHOWING DENOMINATIONS
Observation of parish trends reveals that St. Thomas, St. Mary, St. Elizabeth and Trelawny each had its single leading denomination being Baptist. In addition to being the overall leader, the Church of God group led in St. Ann, Clarendon and Westmoreland. In St. Andrew and St. Catherine the leading group was the Seventh Day Adventist while in Manchester and Hanover, the United Church led the way. Kingston and Portland had their leading denomination as Apostolic and finally St. James was the sole parish that had it highest number of marriages from the Assemblies of God group. Of note also is that there were 768 marriages conducted by Civil Registrars.
TABLE 20: MARRIAGES OCCURRING BY PARISH OF OCCURRENCE AND LEADING DENOMINATIONS AND CIVIL REGISTRARS FOR 2004
Concerning marriages by denomination and month of occurrence, most groups had their busiest months in July and August. Exceptions to this were Assemblies of God with the highest number of marriages in June, United Church in May while Methodist and Seventh Day Adventist had their highest in December.
TABLE 20a: MARRIAGES OCCURING BY MONTH OF OCCURRENCE AND LEADING DENOMINATIONS AND CIVIL REGISTRARS FOR 2004Seven of the denomination groups had their highest number of marriages being solemnised by Minister’s Licence. The Methodist, Moravian, Roman Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist groups, on the other hand, had the majority of their marriages performed on Marriage Officer’s Certificate. The Salvation Army was the sole group having most marriages by Special Licence. Civil Registrars, of course, had mostly Civil Registrar Certificate solemnised marriages.
Seven of the denomination groups had their highest number of marriages being solemnised by Minister’s Licence. The Methodist, Moravian, Roman Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist groups, on the other hand, had the majority of their marriages performed on Marriage Officer’s Certificate. The Salvation Army was the sole group having most marriages by Special Licence. Civil Registrars, of course, had mostly Civil Registrar Certificate solemnised marriages.TABLE 20b: MARRIAGES OCCURRING BY AUTHORITY AND LEADING DENOMINATIONS AND CIVIL REGISTRARS FOR 2004
Seven of the denomination groups had their highest number of marriages being solemnised by Minister’s Licence. The Methodist, Moravian, Roman Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist groups, on the other hand, had the majority of their marriages performed on Marriage Officer’s Certificate. The Salvation Army was the sole group having most marriages by Special Licence. Civil Registrars, of course, had mostly Civil Registrar Certificate solemnised marriages. Seven of the denomination groups had their highest number of marriages being solemnised by Minister’s Licence. The Methodist, Moravian, Roman Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist groups, on the other hand, had the majority of their marriages performed on Marriage Officer’s Certificate. The Salvation Army was the sole group having most marriages by Special Licence. Civil Registrars, of course, had mostly Civil Registrar Certificate solemnised marriages.The Registrar General’s Department is not a repository for documents utilised in granting divorces absolute. This data is sourced from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) which collates divorce data from the records of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is the entity which actually processes divorces absolute.
In 2004 a total of 1,739 divorces absolute were granted. This is an increase of 139 or 8.7% over the previous year’s total of 1,600. In 2003, divorces absolute had declined by 145 or 8.3% from 2002’s total of 1,745.
TABLE 1g: DIVORCES ABSOLUTE GRANTED-1998-2004
From 1998 to 2004, the total number of divorces absolute has fluctuated. Overall, however, there is a trend of increase as shown in the graph. In 1998, the total stood at 1,420 then there was a decline in the following year to 1,131. In 2000, there was another minimal decrease to 1,106 and then in 2001, divorces absolute granted rose sharply to 1,691, an increase of almost 53%. In 2002, the total granted was 1,745, the highest recorded to date for any one year. The year 2003 registered a slight decline to 1,600 and then another increase occurred in 2004, with the total reaching 1,739.
GRAPH 10: CRUDE DIVORCE RATE FOR DIVORCE ABSOLUTE GRANTED -1998 TO 2004
Age of Partner Being Sued at Divorce
For divorces absolute granted by age and sex, note that the data is given in respect of the partner against whom the divorce action is being taken. In 2004, this described 901 males and 838 females, which is 51.8% and 48.2% respectively. In the previous year, there were 803 males and 797 females or 50.2% and 49.8% males and females respectively. Additionally, the 40-49 and 30-39 age groups were the largest for males and females being divorced with 328 and 316 respectively.
TABLE 21: DIVORCES ABSOLUTE CLASSIFIED BY AGE AND BY SEX FOR 2004
Joint Ages of Partners at Divorce
The next table deals with divorces absolute by joint ages of partners at divorce. This table shows that the largest age group for female partner was the 35-39 group with 340. For age of male partner, the largest age group was the 50-59 group with 342. In respect of the joint ages, the largest cohort was that for both the male and female partners being 50-59 with 148 such couples.
TABLE 22: DIVORCES ABSOLUTE CLASSIFIED BY JOINT AGES OF PARTNERS AT DIVORCE FOR 2004
Age at Marriage and Duration of Marriage
When age of female partner at marriage and duration of marriage are taken into account, it is seen that the largest number came from the under 25 age group with 753 of the females being from that group. For the remaining age groups in ascending order: 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-49 and 50 and over, the magnitude of the totals decreased accordingly with 479, 267, 118, 93 and 29 respectively.
TABLE 23: DIVORCES ABSOLUTE CLASSIFIED BY AGE OF FEMALE PARTNER AT MARRIAGE AND DURATION OF MARRIAGE FOR 2004
In contrast, for the age of male partner and duration of marriage table, the largest group was the 25-29 age group with 598 in total. The following groups were the under 25, 30-34, 35-39, 40-49 and 50 and over with 393, 347, 189, 155 and 57 respectively.
TABLE 24: DIVORCES ABSOLUTE CLASSIFIED BY AGE OF MALE PARTNER AT MARRIAGE AND DURATION OF MARRIAGE FOR 2004
From both Tables 23 and 24, it can be seen that the modal group for duration of marriage was for 5-9 years with 537 divorces absolute being granted for this group. Following in descending order were 10-14, 15-19, 25 and over, 20-24 and under 5 years with 398, 263, 230, 192 and 119 respectively.
Mean Duration of Marriage Before Divorce – 1995 to 2004As seen in the accompanying graph, the mean duration of marriage before divorce absolute was granted for 1995 to 2004 fluctuated over the ten-year period. In 1995, the average length of the marriages which were dissolved was 14.5 years. In 1996 and 1997 there were increases to 14.7 and 15.0 years respectively. There was then a slight decrease in 1998 to 14.9 years and then a more drastic decrease in 1999 to 14.5 years. It rose minimally in the following year to 14.6 years. In 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004, it followed a declining trend to 14.5, 14.3, 14.0 and 13.6 years respectively. The year with the lowest mean duration of marriages was 2004 with 13.6 years and the year with the highest was 1997 with 15.0 years.
GRAPH 11: MEAN DURATION OF MARRIAGE BEFORE DIVORCE ABSOLUTE GRANTED FOR 1995 TO 2004
Previous Marital Status
In respect of previous marital status, for males being divorced in 2004, there were 1,612 (92.7%) single, 21 (1.2%) widowed and 106 (6.1%) were divorced. For females, there were 1,636 (94.1%) single, 15 (0.9%) widowed and 88 (5.0%) divorced.
TABLE 25: DIVORCES ABSOLUTE CLASSIFIED BY PREVIOUS MARITAL STATUS AND AGE AT MARRIAGE FOR 2004
As an executive agency still in its first decade of existence, the Registrar General’s Department, with the publication of this vital statistics report, continues in its thrust to provide exceptional support to its stakeholders, both local and international. The Agency vows to continue to strive for excellence in every area of responsibility with which it has been entrusted and through which it serves Jamaica and other countries with which it relates. We are grateful for and anticipate continued partnership with all entities associated with us.