Role of Vital Statistics in Public Health

How do you think vital statistics can be of help for a community/country? There are many ways in which vital statistics can be of use. In fact, vital rates help to monitor the overall socio-economic development of a community /country. Fertility and mortality in a community are indicators of overall health and nutrition (i.e. quality of life) of a community and hence show the need for socio-economic development. 

Analysis of vital statistics helps the Government {policy and programme planners) to plan for health services for reaching the general population and improving health related socio-economic conditions. One can set objectives for achieving targets (like reducing mortality among children, reducing maternal deaths during child birth etc.) and vital rates/statistics can help in finding out whether targets are achieved or not. 

Another reason for collecting vital statistics is that it helps to compare the health and nutritional status of people of two communities/countries and also the same community/country over a period  of time. Thus, knowledge on various vital events during different five year plan periods and census decades will help programme managers, planners and administrators to know the impact of developmental programmes particularly their successes over time.