The CR and ID card management in Mongolia is handled by one institution only, the Civil Registration Department of the General Authority for Intellectual Property and State Registration (GAIPSR) in the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs (MoJHA). They collaborate with the Ministry of Health and Sport (MoHS) and the National Statistics Office. There is online reporting of births and deaths in CR centers in all of the 21 provinces (aimags) and many of the 330 districts (soums). To deal with the regional centers in remote rural areas, where internet connection is not available, such CR centers are equipped with computers that record a QR code containing all the necessary data. This code is then forwarded to the higher-level CR centers where the data is entered into the national data base. This system allows easy integration in the next years when internet connection will become more widely available. Mongolian government is engaged in extensive welfare programs for children under 18, including free health care and money transfers, unavailable to those without registration. Similar programs are also in place for ethnic minorities. Such welfare mechanisms serve as additional encouragement for registering. Upon registration, each child receives a unique personal identity number (PIN). Biometric ID card, containing prints of all ten fingers is issued at the age of 16 and must be renewed at ages 25 and 45.

The birth and death registration are virtually universal, but differences between different institution’s data make room for some uncertainty in the vital statistics reports. All deaths are required to be reported by a medical professional. Causes of Death (CoD) are determined, according to ICD-10 codes, by a medical doctor for deaths in health facilities. The same is the case for the approx. 73% of deaths that occur outside health facilities. The use of the international coding system for the outside hospital deaths is lower, since in some remote areas personnel responsible for the coding is often less familiar with the ICD-10 standards.

One recently introduced piece of legislation is directly aimed at facilitating civil registration for citizens. With the new law, Mongolians are now able to register vital events in the nearest Registration Centre to them, independent from their administrative assignment. In a country where a large proportion of population lives a nomadic lifestyle (estimated 30-40% of population) this change is a key step in addressing inequalities related to CRVS experience by subgroups of the population. One of the major challenges of the Mongolian CRVS system today is the systematic discrepancies between the vital statistics records of MoHS and GAIPSR. The gap in values is especially large for population birth and death statistics. This discrepancy is caused by the registration coverage, time of report, and differences between the registration rules. Currently a lot of effort is being made to integrate the two database and eliminate the reporting discrepancies. A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by the three main authorities of the CRVS system, but the integration of databases and processes is still an ongoing challenge. Management of emigration and immigration in the databases is also an area that needs development.