Today, in the interconnected and interdependent world in which we live, the constant innovations and emergence of terminology demand a common and harmonic language among the authorities in charge of civil registration, identification, biometric systems, and vital statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean. This Glossary of Civil Registration and Identification has its origin in this growing demand and seeks to strengthen the communication and increase the knowledge of the valuable vocabulary in this field. The Inter-American Development Bank accompanies the initiatives of the region's governments to modernize their civil registries and to ensure that they are capable of facing the challenges of the twenty-first century.