The Civil Registry
The civil registry may contain a variety of information on all citizens such as name, address,
citizenship, age, and identification number. In a number of countries, particularly in Europe and
also in Latin America, the voters list is produced from information already collected through the
national civil registry. One of the questions to be addressed in countries with a civil registry is
whether the department responsible for the civil registry (often the Interior Ministry) is also
responsible for the voters list. For example, Colombia uses a single ministry for both, but in most
other countries, they are separated. When a civil registry is created, producing a voters list is
relatively efficient and inexpensive. This is because the costs are borne in the first instance by the
civil registry.
Why a Population Register
The Swedish tax administration, which is responsible for the civil registry (or population register)
in Sweden, provides the following rationale for a civil registry:
Population
registration is the general registration of the Swedish population and involves the ongoing
registration of people living in the country and their place of
residence.
Population registration is of major importance to the
individual. Many situations require a person to provide proof of his or her name or marital status
and this can be done by means of an extract from the population registers. Registration is a
pre-condition for entitlement to child benefit or sickness benefit.
A
further reason for population registration is to satisfy the needs of society with regard to basic
census information. This basic information includes details of the identity, residence, and family
circumstances of private individuals who are or have been resident in Sweden. Together with
other personal details, this information forms part of the population registration records. The
details are forwarded to the personal registers at other authorities, for example the Vehicle
Registration Authority and the Swedish Population and Address Register
(SPAR).
One mistake in the population registration process can result
in a mistake appearing in the registers maintained by many other authorities and could entail loss of
an individual's rights.85 (see Swedish Taxation Office - The Population Register).
