A new report from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has revealed that global birth registration has reached 77%, but 150 million children are still unregistered.
However, reflecting notable strides in securing legal identity globally, it was also revealed that over 500 million or close to 8 in 10 children under five have had their births registered in the last five years.
The report, The Right Start in Life: Global Levels and Trends in Birth Registration, released on Wednesday highlights the 2024 update on the number of children registered since 2019, when global levels stood at 75%.
“Despite the increase to 77 %, 150 million or around 2 in 10 children under five remain unregistered and invisible to government systems,” It noted.
The report also reveals that over 50 million children whose births are recorded lack birth certificates. This essential document serves as proof of registration and is critical for acquiring nationality, preventing statelessness, and ensuring children can enjoy their rights from birth.
“Birth registration ensures children are immediately recognized under the law, providing a foundation for protection from harm and exploitation, as well as access to essential services like vaccines, healthcare, and education,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
“As UNICEF marks 78 years of championing children’s rights today, we celebrate the progress made for millions of children in gaining their legal identity, while calling for stronger efforts to ensure that every child, everywhere, is registered at birth.”
Global progress has largely been driven by countries prioritizing timely registration, leveraging health, social protection, and education systems, expanding services to more locations, digitalizing the process, and eliminating fees.
The report further highlighted that Latin America and the Caribbean reached 95%, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia 94%, and Central and Southern Asia 78%.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s lagging progress
Sub-Saharan Africa lags significantly behind at 51%, accounting for half of the world’s unregistered children (90 million).
“Within sub-Saharan Africa, progress and levels vary widely. Southern Africa leads with 88%, while Western Africa has made the most significant gains over 15 years, reaching 63%. Eastern Africa and Middle Africa trail behind, both at 41%,” the report revealed.
Despite these gains, sub-Saharan Africa faces slow improvements and a rapidly growing child population. If current trends continue, the region poised to house the majority of the world’s children in the coming decades could see over 100 million unregistered children after 2030.
Persistent barriers to registration
Russell emphasized that many families around the world continue to face barriers due to weak political commitment, long distances and multiple visits to registration facilities, lack of knowledge about the registration process, unaffordable fees, and prohibitive indirect costs.
“In some places, discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, or religion,” she said.
Success stories as models
“Despite these challenges, some countries have made significant gains. In sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana has achieved universal birth registration, while Côte d’Ivoire has reached over 90%,” Russell noted.
Other nations such as Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and others have also shown sustained improvement over the past decade. These success stories serve as valuable models for other countries to emulate.
UNICEF’s call to action
In light of this new report, UNICEF calls for five key actions to ensure every child is recognized and protected.
- The agency plans to register every child at birth as the foundation of a lifecycle approach to legal identity.
- Streamline registration processes to enhance service delivery and drive digital transformation.
- Leverage health, social protection, and education programmes to boost birth registration and implement key legal reforms for inclusive and equitable civil registration and vital statics systems.
- Also, empower communities to demand civil registration services as a right.
“Despite progress, too many children remain uncounted and unaccounted for effectively invisible in the eyes of the government or the law,” said Russell. “Every child has the right to be registered and provided with a birth certificate so that they are recognized, protected, and supported.”
