-Automatic translation
Responsible party: Directorate of Health
Processor: Directorate of Health
Purpose: To monitor maternal and child health in the perinatal period. Gathering perinatal statistics and compare with statistics from other countries. The register is also useful for scientific research. The Birth Register participates in Nordic cooperation.
Content: Specific data on all births in Iceland as of 1972.
Period: Electronic registration as of 1981.
Source of data: Data from all birthplaces in Iceland are registered in the Birth Register. Data is transferred electronically from healthcare institutions to the Birth Register.
Items to be recorded: Various aspects of pregnancy, childbirth, pregnancy-related complications, birth interventions, and information on the newborn. Recorded information includes, among other things, the place and time of birth, gestational age, previous births, the treatment during birth, the weight and length of children, and the diagnosis of mother and newborn.
List of variables: Birth Register - list of variables (Icelandic)
Comparable or related data sets: Comparable registers are maintained in Nordic countries.
Processing and publication: The Birth Register has published an annual report since 1995. Specific statistics from the Birth Register are published on the Directorate of Health's website and sent to international databases.
History: A record of births and birth-related factors has been kept at the maternity department of Landspítali University Hospital since 1972, following a decision by the Directorate of Health. Before that time, the Directorate had collected information on all births in the country from district medical officers once a year. In 1970-1971, Iceland participated in a World Health Organization survey on birth registration. Following this work, the Directorate of Health, in cooperation with the maternity department of Landspítali University Hospital, implemented a new birth notification system nationwide from the beginning of 1972. This was done to collect more detailed information and harmonize data collection with neighboring countries. At the same time, the procedure for birth notifications was changed; instead of district medical officers sending annual birth information to the Directorate of Health, a copy of the birth report was to be sent to the maternity department of Landspítali within a week after the birth. Until 2021, the maternity department managed the registration and processing of data. The processed data were sent to the Directorate of Health, which has published birth information on its website. In 2021, this responsibility was transferred to the Directorate of Health, which now handles the data processing from the Birth Registry.
