A third source of information on the performance of CRVS in the Asia-Paci c region is the rapid self-assessments conducted by several countries in the context of the development of the Regional Strategic Plan for the Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Paci c (presented in more detail in the following section). These assessments have used the rapid assessment tool developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the University of Queensland (WHO and University of Queensland, 2010a), which involves a review by country stakeholders, including the government agencies responsible for the registration, statistics, health and other sectors as appropriate for each country. The assessment tool consists of 25 questions about the functioning of national CRVS, grouped into 11 subject areas: the legal framework for CRVS; infrastructure and resources; organization and functioning; coverage of birth and death registration; data storage and transmission; use of the International Classi cation of Diseases; cause- of-death certi cation and quality; statistical coding of causes of death; coder quali cation and training; data quality and plausibility; and data access, dissemination and use. Each question asks the assessors to select one of four scenarios that most closely re ects the country situation. A numerical value (0, 1, 2 or 3) is attached to each scenario, which indicates how well this aspect of the system functions, and scores can be added for the 25 questions and converted into a percentage. The overall score