A New Era of Inclusion: Millions of Children Gain Legal Identity

Monrovia, 11 December 2024 – A significant milestone has been reached in global child rights as over 500 million children under five have had their births registered in the past five years. This represents substantial progress towards ensuring every child has a legal identity.

Released today by UNICEF, the 2024 update of the “Right Start in Life” report underscores this positive trend. While global birth registration rates have risen from 75% in 2019 to 77% today, a staggering 150 million children remain unregistered, invisible to government systems and denied their fundamental rights.

The report highlights a critical gap: over 50 million children with recorded births still lack birth certificates. This essential document is the cornerstone of legal identity, enabling children to access essential services, protection, and citizenship.

While significant progress has been made globally in birth registration, with over 500 million children under five now registered, challenges persist, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Countries worldwide have driven this progress by prioritizing timely registration, leveraging existing health, social protection, and education systems, expanding service delivery, embracing digital solutions, and eliminating fees.

However, sub-Saharan Africa continues to lag behind, with only 51% of children under five registered. While countries in Southern Africa have achieved higher rates (88%), Western Africa has seen the most significant progress in the past 15 years, reaching 63%. Eastern and Middle Africa, however, remains at 41%. Given the region's rapid population growth, the number of unregistered children could exceed 100 million by 2030 if current trends continue.

Liberia: A Beacon of Hope

Liberia has made significant developments in birth registration, increasing the rate from 4% in 2007 to a remarkable 66% in 2019/2020. This means that approximately two in three children born in Liberia are now officially registered.

“Liberia can be proud of the significant progress it has made in recent years. But we still have one in three Liberian children who is not registered at birth, not counted or taken into account for the planning of basic social services in their childhood. As we get ready to implement the new National Development Plan for Liberia, let us ensure that the question of all services, including birth registration, related to civil registration and vital statistics are given the budgetary and operational support they require.”” said Andy Brooks, UNICEF Representative in Liberia.

Key factors driving this progress include:

• Decentralization: Birth registration services have been decentralized to all 15 counties and 58 centers, ensuring wider accessibility.
• Digitalization: The implementation of the Birth Registration Information Management System (BRIMS) on the DHIS2 platform has streamlined processes and improved data management.
• Interoperability and Integration: Collaborative efforts between various stakeholders have enhanced efficiency and data sharing.

UNICEF, as the lead agency, has been instrumental in supporting Liberia's birth registration efforts. This support includes:

• Mobile registration and certification campaigns
• Awareness-raising initiatives
• Procurement of essential birth registration supplies
• Incentive payments for birth registration staff

Birth registration is the most foundational of all children’s rights – it gives them a name and a legal identity. Without it, they face protection concerns and restrictions in accessing other basic rights so it’s critical to maintain the progress and accelerate to universal birth registration.

View the report and date here.

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Notes to editors:

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.