Registrations vs. Certificates: Registrations are recorded at, or near, the time of death by an informant who was present at the death. At the end of each year registrations were copied into a book and sent to the government. This book is what was microfilmed (later digitized). Certificates are certified copies of a registration and are issued by the government but only for the years indicated above. Certificates may or may not include all the information available on the registration and come in two forms - short and long (also known as the genealogical certificate).  The short certificate contains information specific to the death (name, date, place), while the long certificate may include names of parents, spouse, place of birth, etc.