Subnational mortality estimates for India in 2019: a baseline for evaluating excess deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Estimates of excess mortality are required to assess and compare the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across populations. For India, reliable baseline prepandemic mortality patterns at national and subnational level are necessary for such assessments. However, available data from the Civil Registration System (CRS) is affected by incompleteness of death recording that varies by sex, age and location.