What is the Purpose of Providing All of the Information for the Death Certificate?

Video Transcript

The other additional information that is asked on a death certificate is interesting. Many times people will ask “Why do you need to know my occupation?” It’s really just a general observation to have a continuous way to identify who this person is, and if there was any reason in the future to go back and look at any historical information, they would have this additional information.

Answers from Other Funeral Directors Around the United States:

It is used for statistical information by the State of Florida and also can be used by the family for genealogy purposes.

- Jessica Watts
Funeral Director in Jacksonville, FL


It is to provide census information required by the state or national government.

- C. A. Bankston
Funeral Director in Fort Worth, TX


It provides lineage research as well as recorded evidence should any future cases require that information.

- Michael Sollitto
Funeral Director in Charlotte, NC


The general purpose is to keep accurate information on a society that may reflect a current history or trend. It may give insight on how many people who have had cancer lived within a radius of a certain town or how many people based on their employment fields stayed at their current job and might have impacted their health. Demographic information such as certain races outliving one another or whether gender and marital status affect the length of one’s lifespan can also be deduced from these statistics.

- Edmund Wyrabkiewicz
Funeral Director in Castro Valley, CA