The Sample Registration System: an innovative system for monitoring demographic dynamics

"The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) has been at the forefront of the development of longitudinal systems for demographic surveillance. The Demographic Surveillance System from the Matlab study area is internationally recognized as a unique source of accurate and complete demographic data for a large rural population within a developing setting. In this paper, an overview is presented of a second demographic surveillance system--the Sample Registration System (SRS)--which has been in operation for six years in two other areas of rural Bangladesh." Fertility and mortality rates for the period 1983-1988 are calculated from the SRS data.