overlijdensregisters

Overlijdensregisters are official civil registry records that document deaths within a jurisdiction. They are maintained by government authorities as part of civil status records, alongside registers of births and marriages. The registers provide a centralized, standardized record of individuals who have died and support administrative tasks, vital statistics, and historical research.

History and scope: In many countries, civil registration of vital events emerged in the 19th century as a secular alternative to church registers. Over time overlijdensregisters were integrated with statistical systems to produce mortality data, support public planning, and facilitate legal processes such as inheritance and succession. The exact structure and access rules vary by country.

Contents: A typical overlijdensregister includes the deceased’s full name, date and place of death, age, sex, and civil status; in some systems it also lists date and place of birth and occupation. The death certificate associated with the register may record the cause of death, but privacy rules often restrict access to medical information or limit the presentation of cause of death in public indexes.

Access and use: Data are used by statisticians to monitor mortality patterns, by demographers and researchers, and in legal procedures relating to estates and inheritance. Access to recent records is usually restricted to authorized persons or requires a legal interest; historical or anonymized records are commonly available to the public or through archives.

Preservation: Registers are kept by competent civil authorities and, where possible, converted to digital formats with indexing to improve searchability and long-term preservation.