The detailed assessment tool reviews the main aspects of civil registration and vital statistics systems. These include the legal and regulatory framework; registration, certification and coding practices; and the compilation, tabulation and use of the resulting data. The tool comprises both a roadmap, which outlines the main steps in conducting the review, starting with the formation of a review committee of key stakeholders, and an assessment framework, which serves as a template for the detailed review.

The focus throughout is on births, deaths and causes of death, because these are the fundamental events that countries need to know about in order to guide public health programmes, monitor population dynamics and measure key health indicators. The CRVS assessments below have been conducted in countries of the Eastern Mediterranean.