Cape Verde Civil Registration

Civil registers
Research use: Uniquely identifies individuals and spans generations.

Record type: Civil records of birth, marriage, and death.

General: Compiled by the government for administrative and statistical purposes.

Time period: 1860-present.

Contents: Birth–name of person, date of birth, names of parents, father’s occupation and residence, sometimes age of mother; names of witnesses and their residence, occupations, and sometimes relationships. Marriage–name of candidates, their places of residence, date of marriage, sometimes ages and names of parents or sponsors. Death–name of deceased, date of death and burial, age, place of residence at time of death, occupation, cause of death.

Location: National Archive and civil registration offices; some are also in the National Archive of Portugal in Lisbon.

Population coverage: 90% coverage of the population after 1910 and 50-65% before that.