The vital registration system in Zimbabwe is incomplete and mortality estimates produced from these data might not give a true representation of mortality in the population. However, it may be assumed that vital registration data for urban areas is more complete than for the country as a whole. This research was, therefore, conducted in an attempt to answer the question of whether vital registration data can be used to track the mortality of Zimbabwe's metropolitan populations. To answer this question, direct and indirect estimates from census and Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data were used to decide on the viability of using these vital registration data to estimate mortality. Estimates of under-five mortality between 2001 and 2011 from vital registration data ranged from around 50 to 80 deaths per thousand for Harare while Bulawayo's estimates were generally between 55 and 105 deaths per thousand in the same period. Bulawayo's vital registration data appeared to produce reasonable estimates of under-five mortality, while Harare's vital registration data underestimated both infant and under-five mortality when compared to the other supporting estimates from the alternative data sources
