Scotland introduces record of ethnicity on death certificates

Scotland has become the first UK country—and one of the first in the world—to record ethnic origin on death certificates. The data will be used to learn more about important health differences between different groups.

The change to death certification was introduced by the registrar general for Scotland this month and will mean that anyone registering a death will be asked whether they are willing to provide the information. It is entirely voluntary. Those involved will be told that the information will be used by the NHS for research purposes only and …