On December 11, 2019, UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) released a report titled ‘Birth Registration for Every Child by 2030: Are we on track?’. This publication is about the latest data on global and regional estimates of the number of unregistered children worldwide. The report also analyses the steps to be taken to achieve universal birth registration by 2030. As per the report, India alone accounted for a huge rise in birth registration gap , from 41% in 2005-06 to 80%.
Report on India:
- Unregistered Births: Despite India has the huge rise in birth generation gap, half of the unregistered births have been accounted for by five countries with India (14%) having the highest numbers.
- Low birth registration states: Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand recorded the lowest birth registrations in the country.
- Birth registration among rich & poor:In India, birth registration levels have risen for both the richest and poorest segments of the population, and the gap between the two has narrowed.
General Report:Â
i.The report has analysed data from 174 countries. One in four children under age 5 (166 million), on average, are not registered in the world today. And even when they are, they may not have proof of registration. The reasons are all too common: a lack of resources and investment in accurate and comprehensive civil registration systems, coupled with barriers in accessing birth registration services, along with policy, regulatory and institutional obstacles.
ii.South Asian Region: South Asia made most notable progress in birth registration. South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, India and Nepal made large progress in birth registration.
- Birth registration level: Birth registration levels in the South Asian region as a whole have tripled, from around 23% nearly two decades ago(20 years ago) to 70% in 2019.
- Improvement needed countries: Countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan in particular still need more efforts to accelerate in the child birth registrations. Pakistan has recorded rising levels of birth registration since 2006-2007, but only among children from the richest households.
iii.Low Birth level registrations: Majority of countries in sub-Saharan Africa recorded the lowest levels of registered births globally.
iv.Birth registration gaps: Around 166 million do not have birth registration.
v.Efforts needed: Nearly 1 in 3 countries will need to step up progress urgently to meet the target of complete birth registration by 2030. These 1 in 3 countries are home to around a third of under-fives globally.
UNICEF’s calls to action: to provide a birth certificate for every child; to empower and engage parents and communities; and to invest in innovative technological solutions facilitating birth registration.
About United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF):
Fact1- It is responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children
around the world.
Fact2- it is also called byUnited Nations Children’s Fund.
Formation- 11 December 1946
Headquarters- New York City, U.S.
Executive Director(ED)- Henrietta Holsman Fore.
Click Here to View the Report PDF
