As part of a project for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation on options for collecting marriage and divorce information at the national, state, and local levels, The Lewin Group developed and administered a survey of state-level vital registrars, and companion surveys for local-level staff who collect and report marriage and divorce information, to learn about data contained in state vital registration systems.

Information gathered through this project provides the first national-level picture of how the vital statistics system collects marriage and divorce information. The surveys captured the richness of and variation in marriage and divorce information that is collected by states and their local jurisdictions. The surveys also gathered information about how data are collected, stored, and used, and whether there have been any changes in recent years. Finally, the surveys explored challenges states and localities face in collecting and storing marriage and divorce information and strategies they have used to overcome them. (Author abstract)