Twenty percent of children under the age of 5 globally – 150 million children – have never had their births recorded, while approximately 55 million more lack the birth certificates necessary to access education, healthcare, and a legal identity, according to 2024 estimates by UNICEF.

These figures were included in a new report presented by UN Human Rights to the Human Rights Council during its 59th session in Geneva. The report highlights birth registration as a human right that serves as a gateway to other rights, including equality and non-discrimination, nationality, education and health.

Uncounted, unseen and excluded

A lack of registration may cause lifelong challenges since birth certificates are often required to prove age and identity and to access essential services, including national identity credentials, education, healthcare, social protection, child protection and justice.

“Unregistered children or children lacking a birth certificate face a higher risk of exclusion, child, early and forced marriage, child labour, child recruitment, and trafficking. Birth registration is also instrumental in preventing and reducing statelessness and protecting stateless children.”

The report further points out that, although birth registration has increased around the world and the gap between the poorest and richest countries has narrowed, registration would need to accelerate at five times its current pace to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 16 on universal registration by 2030.

“Children and their parents or caregivers face complex and multifaceted barriers to birth registration, including discriminatory laws, policies and practices, affordability and accessibility barriers, and a lack of measures to support the implementation of birth registration, limiting children’s rights and potential,” the report states.

Intersecting forms of discrimination compound these issues. Children from marginalized populations, such as children on the move, Indigenous children, children in street situations, those in poverty or children from minority groups, face several barriers.

“In Nepal, only 15 percent of children aged under 5 in the Dalit community have birth certificates,” the report notes, pointing to systemic exclusion, even in countries with robust laws and systems.

Women not allowed to register children

Gender-based discrimination is also an obstacle in multiple countries. Women are barred from registering their children’s birth, unless in exceptional circumstances.

“Cultural and social norms concerning unmarried or single mothers, or children born of rape, affect registration and subject children to stigma. This may prevent mothers from registering their child’s birth to avoid isolation, bullying or exclusion, further marginalizing the child,” the report states. “Same-sex couples also face discrimination in law and in practice and cannot register their child’s birth.”

Further, multiple structural, logistical and administrative barriers and affordability prevent access to birth registration. These include physical accessibility, geographic disparities, and a lack of decentralized services, as well as complex administrative procedures and excessive documentation requirements. Costs associated with civil registration also affect rates of registration, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

“Further concerns include fear of legal consequences, particularly for migrants and parents of children born out of wedlock; low literacy rates; and digital challenges, including lack of meaningful connectivity and the accessibility of digital services.”

Digitalization’s challenges

UN Human Rights’ report acknowledges that digital technologies can have the potential to improve and facilitate birth registration, as they can increase accessibility and efficiency, support systems integration to improve coordination between governmental entities, and address financial barriers. Many countries have started adopting digital identity systems, including civil registration and statistics systems. But the potential of digitalization would rest on grounding such systems on the international human rights law framework.

“[Digital technologies] can facilitate timely, accurate and permanent record-keeping and quicker record transfer and retrieval, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, and broaden access,” the report points out, adding that mobile communications can help reach unregistered children in remote areas.

On the other hand, the report cautions to the human rights challenges of digital public infrastructure, including challenges related to data protection, privacy, exclusion, accessibility and the potential misuse of records for surveillance.

In addition, there is a notable connectivity disparity between high- and low-income countries, with 93 percent of the population in high-income countries compared with 27 percent in low-income countries having access to the internet, and 2.6 billion people remaining offline.

“A hybrid and inclusive approach to birth registration, including using digital technologies as appropriate and with necessary safeguards, has the potential to transform children’s lives,” the report states.

Achieving universal birth registration

UN Human Rights’ report offers a model to achieve birth registration for every child. It requires States and tech companies to place children’s rights and States’ legal obligations at the centre of the laws, policies, practices and programmes linked to birth registration.

“The recommendations in this report set out a clear, rights-respecting pathway to achieving universal birth registration,” said Imma Guerras, Chief of the Child and Youth Rights Unit at UN Human Rights.

A human rights-based approach to universal registration would entail developing birth registration systems that are non-discriminatory; making registration free of charge and eliminating access barriers; streamlining civil registration and vital statistics into a “one-step, one-visit” system; ensuring community awareness and facilitating meaningful participation of individuals, including children, when designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating birth registration frameworks; guarantee data privacy, ethical safeguards, and human rights due diligence in digital registration systems; and, in emergency settings, ensure that birth registration is continued by implementing temporary measures, such as mobile registration units, simplified and flexible procedures.

“The lack of inclusive, accessible and available birth registration systems, resulting in non-registration, has a devasting impact on affected children that may last throughout their lives,” the report stressed. “Establishing free, easily accessible, inclusive and rights-respecting birth registration systems builds societies in which everyone is recognized and protected.”

“While digital technologies alone are not sufficient to address the multiple barriers to universal birth registration or fully close the certification gap, they may be an important tool to strengthening and streamlining birth registration systems.”