Birth registration steadily increases worldwide, but 150 million children still ‘invisible’ - UNICEF

NEW YORK (December 11, 2024) – Over 500 million – or close to 8 in 10 - children under five have had their births registered in the last five years, reflecting notable strides in securing legal identity worldwide, according to a new UNICEF report released today.

The Right Start in Life: Global levels and trends in birth registration, 2024 update – released on UNICEF’s 78^th birthday – is the latest update on the number of children registered since 2019, when global levels stood at 75 percent. Despite the increase to 77 percent today, 150 million – or around 2 in 10 – children under five remain unregistered and invisible to government systems.

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 right to a 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.

Latin America and the Caribbean reached 95 percent, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia 94 percent, and Central and Southern Asia 78 percent. However, sub-Saharan Africa lags significantly behind at 51 percent, accounting for half of the world’s unregistered children (90 million).

Within sub-Saharan Africa, progress and levels vary widely. For example, Southern Africa leads with 88 percent, while Western Africa has made the most significant gains over 15 years, reaching 63 percent. Eastern Africa and Middle Africa trail behind, both at 41 percent. However, with slow improvements and a rapidly growing child population, sub-Saharan Africa—poised to house the majority of the world's children in the coming decades—could see over 100 million unregistered children after 2030 if levels remain as they are today.

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, and, in some places, discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, or religion.

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 percent. 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.

To ensure every child is recognized and protected, UNICEF is calling for five key actions:

• 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 programs to boost birth registration.
• Implement key legal reforms for inclusive and equitable civil registration and vital statics systems.
• 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.”

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Notes to editors:

Download multimedia content here.

View the report and data here.

Article 7 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states affirms every child's right to have their identity established ‘immediately’ after birth through birth registration. Find out more here.

Estimates are based on comparable data collected between 2014 and 2023 for a subset of 173 countries, representing 98 per cent of the global population of children under age 5. The latest available data for around 80 per cent of these countries are from the last five years. Data sources include nationally representative household surveys such as the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), vital statistics from civil registration systems, censuses and other nationally representative surveys that use a comparable methodology.

ABOUT UNICEF USA 

UNICEF USA advances the global mission of UNICEF by rallying the American public to support the world’s most vulnerable children. Together, we are working toward a world that upholds the rights of all children and helps every child thrive. For more information, visit www.unicefusa.org. 

For more information please contact:
Jenna Buraczenski, UNICEF USA, (917) 720-1432, jburaczenski@unicefusa.org