Less than one out of five deaths in India is medically certified to denote cause of death. Deaths with medical certification of the cause were a mere 2.5% of estimated deaths in Jharkhand, 3.1% in Uttar Pradesh and 4.7% in Bihar. This emerges from an analysis of data from two reports recently released by the census commissioner’s office. This assumes greater significance at a time when a debate is raging on whether Covid-19 deaths are being accurately counted.