South Asia has seen the fastest increase in birth registration rates among all regions in the last two decades, soaring from 39 percent in 2008 to 76 percent in 2024, according to a new UNICEF report released this week, which called on Afghanistan and Pakistan to speed up efforts to achieve universal birth registration by 2023.
India, Nepal, and Bangladesh have made significant strides in securing legal identities for millions of children, as per the report, ‘The Right Start in Life: Global Levels and Trends in Birth Registration, 2024 Update.’
Maldives, Bhutan and Sri Lanka have near 100 percent coverage due to prioritizing timely registration, using health, social protection, and education systems to register babies, expanding services to more locations, digitizing the process and eliminating fees.
“To achieve universal birth registration by 2030, Afghanistan and Pakistan, in particular, must accelerate their efforts,” UNICEF said on its website in a statement about the report.
“Bangladesh, which has made significant increases over the past decade, needs to scale up birth registration. India has also made remarkable progress over the last ten years, and a ‘celebrating the last-mile’ strategy would enable the country to reach universal birth registration by 2030.”
Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, said in a statement a birth certificate was the foundation for legal identity.
“But it’s so much more than a document, it protects children’s rights and enables them to access essential services like health care, education and other social services,” she said
