Table 1. Definitions of terms.

Term	Definition as used in the RMM Collection
Accuracy	The degree to which estimates from a given estimation method are consistent with those of a given validation standard.
Civil registration	The continuous, permanent, compulsory, and universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of events, including vital events in accordance with the legal requirements of a country.
Completeness	The extent to which a given data collection system documents vital events relative to that of a current best-practice data collection method.
Current best practice	We use this term to refer to methods for measuring vital events or vital rates that represent state-of-the-art practice. We use this in preference to “gold standard” because no measurement technique is perfect.
Real-time	Periods of 12 months or less.
Scale-up	The expansion of implementation from limited geographical areas to full national coverage.
Validation	The comparison of one set of results against another set of results from current best practice to assess the level of error in the former result.
Vital statistics system	The components of a vital statistics system are: a) legal registration; b) statistical reporting; and c) collection, compilation, and dissemination of statistics pertaining to vital events. The vital events of interest are: live births, adoptions, legitimations, and recognitions; deaths and fetal deaths; and marriages, divorces, separations, and annulments of marriage. i
Full birth history	Data collected from a woman on (at least) the date of birth, survival status, and age at death if dead, of each live birth she has had.
Full pregnancy history	Data collected from a woman on (at least) the date of completion, survival status, months of gestation for a pregnancy loss or age at death for a live birth that subsequently died, of each pregnancy she has had.
Summary birth history	Data collected from a woman on (at least) her age, number of live births, and number of those births that have died.

ⁱ United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division. Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System. Statistical Papers, Series M No. 19/Rev.3. New York: United Nations; 2014.