As an important component of population statistics, birth statistics have a tradition going back to the 18th century, in the sense of a systematic recording of births by the religious communities. Since 1945, they have been based on the reports of the registry offices of Austria intended for administrative purposes, which in turn are based in part on reports of births by hospitals and freely practising midwives on medical and social characteristics. Since 1 November 2014, birth notifications have been transmitted automatically from the Central Civil Status Register to Statistics Austria on a daily basis. Since 2015, all births abroad to mothers with Austrian citizenship and their main residence in Austria have also been recorded. Data on births is published according to the mother's place of residence.