Recorded Live Births 1998-2024
South Africa, 1998 - 2024
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zaf-statssa-rlb-1998-2024-v1
Recorded Live Births 1998-2024
RLB 1998-2024
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| South Africa | zaf |
Recorded Live Births
The Recorded Live Births (RLB) dataset provides information on all registered live births in South Africa. The RLB dataset is part of a regular series of cumulative releases that Statistics South Africa, Stats SA, publishes and is based on data collected through the civil registration system. RLB 1998-2024 is the latest release in the series, which replaces and includes the data of the previous release (i.e. RLB 1998-2024 includes the data from RLB 1998-2023). The main objective of this dataset is to outline emerging trends and differentials in birth occurrence and registration, by selected socio-demographic and geographic characteristics in South Africa over time. Reliable birth statistics are necessary for population health assessment, health policy, service planning and programme evaluation. These data are particularly critical for planning, implementing and monitoring development policies and programmes such as the National Development Plan, NDP, in South Africa, Agenda 2063 at the regional level and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the international level.
Administrative records data [adm]
Individuals
Version
v1: Edited, anonymised data for public distribution
2026-01
Version 1 of this dataset was downloaded from Statistics SA's Isibalo site on December 30, 2025
Scope
Birth registration in South Africa is governed by the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1992 (Act No. 51 of 1992, as amended) and administered by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). Upon registration, the DHA issues a birth certificate and updates the national population register. Once the data has been captured, it is transferred to the mainframe, where it is downloaded and the birth transactions are extracted for processing by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA).
| Topic |
|---|
| Live births |
Coverage
This dataset has national coverage.
The distribution of births by DCs, metros and provinces are approximate figure as there was no perfect match of magisterial districts for all DCs, metros and provinces, since some magisterial districts are situated in more than one DC, metro or province. Such magisterial districts were allocated to the district council where the majority of the land area falls.
The lowest level of geographic aggregation covered by the data is magisterial district using the 2016 municipal demarcations.
The target population is all births recorded on the Birth Register for the years 1998 to 2024. All births that occurred in South Africa, but where the parents were non-South African citizens or not permanent residents, have been excluded.
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Statistics South Africa | Government of South Africa |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Home Affairs | Government of South Africa | Data capturing. |
Study authorization
1992
Registration of births in South Africa is governed by the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1992 (Act No. 51 of 1992), which is implemented by the South African Department of Home Affairs (DHA).
survey_instrument
The DHA uses two forms to record live births: Form DHA-24, Notice of Birth, to register births for persons aged 30 days and below; and Form DHA-24/LRB is used to register births for persons aged 31 days and older (along with other forms).
Data Collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 2024 |
| Start date | End date |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 2024 |
| Name | Affiliation | Abbreviation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Home Affairs | Government of South Africa | DHA | Data capturing |
| Statistics South Africa | Government of South Africa | StatsSA | Dataset preparation |
Access policy
DataFirst data repository
Statistics South Africa's Isibalo site
Depositor information
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statistics South Africa | StatsSA | Government of South Africa | https://www.statssa.gov.za/ |
2025
Distributor information
| Organization name | Affiliation | URL |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/ |
2026
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | http://support.data1st.org/ | support@data1st.org |
Use is under a Creative Commons BY attribution only license
Statistics South Africa. Recorded Live Births 1998-2024 [dataset]. Version 1. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa [producer], 2025. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/5JTQ-2R31
The data re-user agrees to send DataFirst a link to research publications that are based on the data.
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataFirst Helpdesk | University of Cape Town | support@data1st.org | https://www.support@data1st.org |
Metadata production
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | Metadata producer |
Metadata version
Version 1
2026-01-28