Completeness of death registration in Ghana: An evaluation of multiple data sources and methods

What the report says

A study published in PLOS One reports that Ghana’s death registration system remains substantially incomplete despite more than a century of formal registration requirements. The paper, by C. Agyei-Asabere and co-authors, evaluated the 2022 mortality register alongside two population and housing census rounds to assess how fully deaths are being captured. It was published July 23, 2026, according to the journal citation.

The researchers used demographic quality checks, Death Distribution Methods and an Empirical Completeness Method to compare registered deaths with expected mortality patterns. Their estimates varied by method: death registration completeness was put at 28.7% using the empirical approach and 56% using death distribution methods. The study also found under-reporting of deaths among children under five and uneven performance across regions and by sex.

PLOS One reports that regional gaps were wide. Under one method, male completeness exceeded full coverage in Volta Region while Western Region recorded the lowest male and female estimates. The empirical method showed completeness ranging from nearly 70% in Greater Accra to about 8% in Oti Region. The authors said death records are spread across institutions, with weak coordination and inconsistent data sharing limiting the system’s effectiveness.

The findings matter because death registration is central to public health planning, monitoring mortality trends and meeting international targets, including Sustainable Development Goal indicator 17.19.2 on vital statistics capacity. The paper notes that Ghana has improved birth registration, but death registration has shown little progress over two decades. The authors call for more targeted, coordinated and innovative measures to improve coverage.