How to modernise a civil registration system

Albanian authorities and Statistics Norway have cooperated with Albanian government institutions on modernising the Albanian civil registration system since 2001. The former register was based on hand written books. The primary partner on the Albanian side has been the Drejtoria e Përgjithshme e Gjéndjes Civile (General Directorate for Civil Status, GDCS). In 2009 colleagues from Instituti i Statistikës (Institute of Statistics, INSTAT) and Statistics Norway started cooperating, primarily on preparing for the production of register-based statistics in Albania.

Statistics Norway has contributed to a successful modernisation of the Albanian civil registration system. Today it is used for several administrative tasks, like establishing a voters’ list and issuing of passports and other official identification papers.

GDCS have played an important role in modernising the Albanian civil registration system and have contributed substantially to the recourses needed to complete the work. INSTAT have experienced statisticians that can take the task of building register-based statistics further.