Approximately 550 thousand children born in 2004 had not been registered up to the first quarter of 2005, as shown by IBGE’s Civil Register Statistics.

Approximately 550 thousand children born in 2004 had not been registered up to the first quarter of 2005, as shown by IBGE’s Civil Register Statistics. The percentage of mothers younger than 20 years also fell from 20.8% in 2003, to 20.6% in 2004. There was decrease in all regions, except in the Northeast, where this percentage changed from 23.3% (2003) to 23.9% (2004). Between 1994 and 2004, the proportion of teenage mothers in the country increased from 18.1% to 20.6%. Between 2003 and 2004 there was little fall of violent deaths among men (from 15.94% to 15.74%), with decrease in all the regions, as well as among women (from 4.48% to 4.45%). In the period 1994-2004, violent deaths among men increased from 14.31% to 15.74% and among women, from 4.36% to 4.45%. The number of marriages in 2004 (806,968) increased by 7.7% in relation to 2003 – the highest figure since 1994. The number of legal separations in 2004 was 7.4% lower than in 2003 and the number of divorces was 3.7% lower in this period.

Underestimation by 16.4% of the number of births is supposed to have occurred in 2004. In 2003 there was underestimation by 19%. In the period 1994-2004, the index of underregistration of births remained at constant levels, reaching its peak in 1998 (22.9%). Among the Federative Units the highest underregistration rates were observed in Amazonas (41.4%), Pará (37.6%) and Maranhão (35%). On the other hand, the lowest figures were those of the Federal District (0.6%), São Paulo (4.6%) and Mato Grosso do Sul (4.7%). According to IBGE surveys, several factors contributed to the nonexistence of registrations, among which are: difficulty of access to the civil register office and barriers to the functioning of these same offices in smaller municipalities, due to difficulties in establishing policies of compensation funds for free registration of citizens, according to Law no 9.534 from December 10, 1997.

Births undeclared up to the first quarter of 2005 are incorporated into the Civil Register, in the following years, as they are registered. In 2004, for instance, late registrations accounted for 15.1% of the overall number of births in the country. Having been published since 1974, the Civil Register Statistics contains information about births, deaths, marriages, legal separations and divorces occurred in the country, based on data obtained from Natural Persons Registration Offices, from Law Offices Family Divisions, from Forums or from Civil Law Offices.

Number of teenage mothers falls from 2003 to 2004

Of a total 2,813,704 births in 2004, 1,165,201 were in the Southeast region, 815,094 in the Northeast, 387,045 in the South, 232,260 in the North and 213,735 in the Central West. This amount was only 0.04% lower than in 2004. In the last ten years, 1999 had the highest number of birth registrations (2,939,278).

The percentage of births among mothers younger than 20 years old increased from 18.1%, in 1994, to 20.6%, in 2004, but there was fall in comparison with 2003 (20.8%). Between 1994 and 2004 the number of teenage mothers fell in the Central West region (from 22.7% to 22.1%) and grew in the Northeast (from 18.4% to 23.9%), North (from 20.8% to 25.4%), South (17.8% to 19.1%) and Southeast (from 17.0% to 17.7%). The states of Maranhão (26.4%) and Tocantins (27.4%) presented the highest percentages of births among teenage mothers.

The Civil Register Statistics showed that mothers between 20 and 24 years of age accounted for a bigger number of births (30.7%), followed by mothers between 25 and 29 years of age (23.7%). A total 97.8% of births took place in hospitals and 2.1% at home. Acre and Amazonas lead the ranking of births at home with rates of 15.3% and 13.5%, respectively.

About half of infant deaths are not registered

Problems with underregistration also occur in relation to deaths, at an estimated rate of 13.6% in the country. The highest levels of deaths occur in the Northeast (32.6%) and in the North regions (26.6%), whereas the lowest are found in the Central West (9.4%), Southeast (2.9%) and South (0.8%). In terms of infant death (children younger than 1 year of age) the omission of registrations reaches 51.3% in the country. Among infant deaths in the country, 49.1% are in the category precocious neonatal (children between 0 and 6 days of life); 34.7% in the category post- neonatal (children between 26 and 364 days of life), and 16.2% in the category late neonatal (children between 7 and 27 days of life). In all the regions, there are higher levels of deaths of children between 0 and 6 days of life.

Infant mortality rates (deaths of children younger than 1 year of age for 1000 children born) based on the civil register, are closer to real figures in the Southeast, South, Central West and North regions. Figures do not reflect the real situation in the Northeast region, due to the several occurrences of underregistration. Whereas the Census and the National Household Sample Survey (indirect method) point to an infant mortality rate of 25.4% in the country, according to the civil register (indirect method) the rate is only 14.8%. Comparing the rates of surveys with those of the Civil Register, the results are: Northeast region - 34.9% versus 13.1% ; North region - 24.2% versus 20.0%; Central West region - 18.3% versus 15.9% and Southeast region - 17.5% versus 14.9%.

Violent deaths have slight decrease

The Civil Register also provides information about the type of death: natural or violent. In the category of violent deaths are included those related to homicides, suicides, car accidents, etc. Violence increased over the 1990’s in almost all Brazilian regions, reaching especially the male sex, a group in which the occurrence of deaths was almost three times higher than among women. The number of violent deaths faced an upward trend up to 2002. From this year on, slight reductions have been observed in these occurrences, but they were still irrelevant. At national level, during the period 1990 - 2002, the number of men victims of violent deaths increased from 14.2% to 16.2%; and in 2004, this percentage was 15.7%. Among women, although relatively low (about 4%) the rates presented a slight increasing trend up to the end of the 1990’s, and decreased from 2001 on.

The percentage of violent deaths of men had slight decrease in the country between 2003 (15.94%) and 2004 (15.74%), as well as in other regions. In 2004, 110,685 persons were victims of violence, 90,776 men and 19,866 women. Among women, violent deaths decreased between 2003 (4.48%) and 2004 (4.45%). The states leading the ranking of violent deaths in 2004 were Roraima (33%) and Rondônia (28%). The lowest rates were those of Amazonas (65) Piauí (8.2%0, Bahia (11.3%) and Minas Gerais (11.5%).

The Civil Register 2004 shows that 68.7% of deaths of men between 15 and 24 years of age were violent. There has been a downward trend since 2002 (when it reached 70.7%) in all the regions, except in the North and in the South - where figures are still growing. In 2004, the occurrence of violent deaths remained higher in Rio de Janeiro, where mortality rates due to violent causes among young men between 15 and 24 years of age reached 225 deaths for 100 thousand inhabitants. Also relevant were the results of the states of Espírito Santo (217), Pernambuco (208) Rondônia (182) and São Paulo (177).

Violence in this group of younger persons also started to reach a bigger number of women. In the developed areas of the Central South, violent deaths of women between 15 and 24 years of age reached almost 40%. At national level, these figures changed from 28.3% in 1990, to 34.1% in 2002; slight decrease (to 33.8%) happened in 2004, except in the Northeast, with change from 24.3% in 2002 to 25.7% in 2004, and in the South, with change from 39.3% in 2002 to 41.3% in 2004.

Collective weddings contributed to the increase by 7.7% of unions in 2004

The number of marriages in Brazil in 2004, grew by 7.7% in relation to 2003. There had been a total of 806,968 marriages since 1994. This increase resulted, to some extent, from the occurrence of collective weddings in several federative units, made possible through partnerships between city councils, registration offices and churches. Such agreements aimed at the legalization of irregular unions. The payment of worker’s 13^th salary has caused December to have the highest number of marriages for at least three decades. In 2004 there were 105,133 marriages in this month, whereas in May, known as the bride month, there were 70,502 unions. The legal marriage rate (number of marriages by number of inhabitants times 1000) shows, however, that from 1994 on, there was reduction in the number of marriages. In 1994, the rate was 7.2; in 2003 it was 5.9, having increased to 6.2 in 2004. The Civil Register showed that among women the highest marrying rate occurred in the group between 20 and 24 years of age (29.9%). For marriages occurred in 2004, 31.5% of men were between 25 and 29 years of age. The number of marriages among persons younger than 20 years of age increased accounting for 18% of the overall figure. The number of marriages of persons over 60 years of age almost doubled from 2003 to 2004. In general men and women have been getting married at a later age. In 1994, marrying women were 24.2 on the average, and men 26.1 years. In 2004, the average age of women was 27 years and of men, 30.4 years.

Fewer separations and divorces in 2004

There was decrease of 7.4% in the number of separations in 2004 over 2003, amounting to a total of 93,525. The number of divorces also fell, by 3.2%. The rate of legal separations by 1000 inhabitants 20 years of age or over was, in 2004, 0.8%, presenting a slight decrease in relation to previous years. From 1994 on, legal separation rates had remained at constant levels - 0.9%. From 1994 on, these same rates remained stable at 1.2%, a fact that has been occurring since 1999. Throughout the decade, direct divorces (the 1998 Constitution allowed couples separated for over two years or legally separated for at least one year to file for divorce directly) caused the number of divorces to increase in relation to the number of legal separations. Throughout the decade, direct divorces presented relative increase of 20%, from 60% in 1994, to 72%, in 2004.

Most legal separations were consensual (by agreement): 78.4% of legal separations and 69.2% of divorces. Considering non-consensual separations, the proportion of women filing for separation (71.5%) was substantially superior to the proportion of men (26.5%). However, in relation to divorce requests, the percentage of women (52.2%) fell in relation to the percentage of men (47.8%), probably due to the more frequent occurrence of remarriage among women. In general, women had the responsibility of raising the children (in 91.3% in separations and in 89.7% divorces). The average age for men was 37.7 in separations and 41.8 in divorce. Among women the figures were 35 and 39, respectively. In 2004, the average duration of marriages was 11.5 years, with results of 8.8 years in Amazonas and 13 years in Rio Grande do Sul.