Counting every child, and making every birth count
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Birth registration is a basic human right and one of the most powerful tools to protect children. Registering a child makes them visible to the state and enables them to access education, healthcare, and social services.
Birth registration is part of a larger system called Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS), which records life events such as births, deaths, and marriages. This system does more than safeguard individual rights; it provides data that helps governments plan services, allocate budgets, and make decisions to improve the reach of essential services for their citizens.
From the expert
One in four of the world’s unregistered children lives in South Asia. An estimated 42 million children under the age of five remain unregistered.
Vedasto Nsanzugwanko, UNICEF South Asia
Recently, we sat down with Vedasto Nsanzugwanko, Regional Child Protection Adviser at UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia, to reflect on what has been achieved and what more is needed to ensure no child is left behind.
What is the situation of birth registration in South Asia?
South Asia has made big strides in making invisible children visible. In 2011, only 39 per cent of children under five were registered. Today, that figure has nearly doubled to 76 per cent, thanks to strong leadership in countries like India and Nepal. Likewise, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka have achieved nearly universal birth registration coverage.
Policy reforms and digital innovations have helped bring millions of children into the CRVS system.
But there is still a long way to go.
South Asia still accounts for one in four of the world’s unregistered children. According to UNICEF’s 2024 update, approximately 42 million children under the age of five in South Asia remain unregistered. That’s 42 million girls and boys who could miss out on learning, a doctor’s healing hand, and protective services, such as social workers.
That’s a massive gap we must close. Without a birth certificate, these children are more vulnerable to child labour, child marriage, and even trafficking.
In December 2024, I travelled to Bangladesh and saw the difficulties families encounter without birth certificates. I talked with frontline workers who shared their challenges in preventing child marriage among girls. Often, families can easily misreport a girl’s age because they lack legal proof of age. A simple document can be crucial to keep girls safe.
What gets in the way?
For many families in South Asia, registering a birth remains a challenging task. In remote regions, registration centres are often far away, and the process can be confusing. Even when registration is free, additional costs, such as transportation or late registration fines, can deter families from the process. These obstacles disproportionately affect the most marginalised groups- low-income families, ethnic minorities, migrants, and displaced communities.
What is UNICEF doing?
UNICEF is supporting governments in South Asia to simplify registration processes and remove fees for registrations.
We are also supporting collaboration between sectors, including civil registration, and key health, protection, and education services. This helps ensure children do not miss out on services because they lack a birth certificate. Additionally, children who are not yet registered are quickly referred to appropriate government offices for immediate registration.
UNICEF is also advocating to make laws and policies more inclusive, so no child is left out because of gender, ethnicity, caste, or nationality. At the local level, we work with community organisations to raise awareness about the lifelong importance of a birth certificate.
Are we seeing progress?
One major breakthrough has been digitalisation. India, Bangladesh, and Nepal have made strong progress by moving CRVS systems online. This has not only expanded coverage but also improved the quality and completeness of data.
Yes. Some countries have revised their laws to make registration easier and more inclusive, especially for hard-to-reach communities. Governments are also starting to use data from CRVS systems to deliver tailored services to support programmes such as education and healthcare closer to children.
What needs to happen next?
The data shows encouraging progress, but there is still much to do.
Governments from South Asia recently reaffirmed their commitments to ensure all children are registered at birth by 2030, during the Third Ministerial Conference on CRVS in Asia and the Pacific in June 2025.
Universal legal identity, a birth certificate for every child, is within reach in South Asia. However, to achieve this, governments in South Asia must:
- Remove registration fees and other barriers to birth registration.
- Streamline systems to bring services closer to families, particularly those in remote areas.
- Build resilient CRVS systems that operate through crises and disasters.
- Bridge the gap between registration and certification.
- Fully integrate birth registration into health, education and social protection systems. These actions must be reflected in every country’s development plan and budget.
Donors and partners need to continue investing in sustainable CRVS systems and advocating for policies that reach every child, including migrants, refugees and stateless children.
As South Asia moves toward universal registration (SDG 16.9) by 2030, UNICEF’s message is urgent and clear. It is the right of every child, everywhere, no matter who he/she is, or where they are from, to have a birth certificate. It’s not just a piece of paper; it’s a passport to greater participation and a more prosperous future.
