This handbook is one in a series of five prepared by the United Nations Statistics Division, with financial support from the United Nations Population Fund, under the auspices of the International Programme for Accelerating the Improvement of the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems initiated in 1991. It shows how to develop a comprehensive legal framework for a civil registration system that support its juridical function, its role as a source of continuous vital statistics, and by other agencies such as the health ministry, electoral rolls, identification services, population registers, pension funds, which depend on accurate registration data. The handbook will assist country experts in preparing a civil registration law to conduct complete, accurate and timely registration of vital events (live births, foetal deaths, marriages, divorces, legal separations, annulments of marriage, deaths, adoptions, legitimations, recognitions). It is also a suitable text-book for training courses in demographic analysis, statistics, law, public health, statistics in medical schools and social sciences.