Registration of Births and Induced Abortions in the Nordic Countries

Authors

• Mika Gissler

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23979/fypr.45059

Keywords:

register information, health monitoring, population data, live births, stillbirths, abortions, mortality, pregnancy, Nordic countries

Abstract

All the five Nordic countries have a long tradition in health statistics and health
monitoring. The cornerstone of the national health information systems is register
information. There are, for example, complete population-based registration of
births and deaths, cancers, hospital care, and medication (Cappelen and Lysol 2004,
Gissler and Haukka. 2004, Mortensen 2004, Otterblad Olausson et al. 2004). The
main prerequisites for a functioning register system are its completeness and high
quality. These are facilitated by the Nordic legislation allowing mandatory reporting
from public and private sector without informed consent and the existence of unique
person identity number system.