When did countries begin maintaining birth and death registries, and how does the lack of earlier data limit genealogical research?

Shortly after a child is born, usually even before he’s named, the hospital reports his date of birth and parentage to the relevant government ministry or department. Many countries immediately assign the infant an identity number, although he’ll be issued an ID card only at age sixteen. 

Births, deaths, marriages, and other census data are the most basic building blocks of information for governments the world over. Yet anyone exploring his roots soon discovers to his chagrin that no such records existed prior to the mid-18th century. 

 

Irrelevant Information

Premodern authorities had no need to document arrivals in or departures from this world. Jewish law does mark the point at which a youngster becomes obligated to observe the commandments, but that shift used to be determined by physical maturity rather than age. (See “Bar Mitzvas Come of Age,” Segula 68.) Even today, some folks don’t know their date of birth, not because their traditional society functioned without a calendar, but because birthdays were unimportant. 

Prior to modern government bureaucracies, many Jewish families jotted down their children’s birth dates on the inside covers of prayer books. Likewise, a mohel often kept a record of the infants he circumcised, and such lists have been preserved for centuries. Yet these were private initiatives. Community archives tracked debts and internal taxes but not births – and sometimes not even deaths.