India’s struggle to medically certify deaths is a glaring blind spot in the nation’s public health and administrative records. The study, which tracked death certification patterns from 2006-2020, highlighted that out of the 8.75 million deaths in India in 2020, 80% were registered but just under 2 million were medically certified. Yet such recording suffers as structural gaps and administrative lapses lead to weak reporting, patchy compliance, and regional disparities, thus explaining the poor standards of medical certification of mortality. A large share of deaths, particularly in rural areas, occurs at home, making medical certification difficult. Strengthening death certification in India thus demands urgent reform.

Source: The Telegraph January 19, 2026 02:40 UTC