Despite the significant progress made worldwide in ensuring legal identity, today 150 million children under the age of 5 (approximately 2 out of 10) remain invisible because they are not registered at birth. The new Unicef Report “The Right Start in Life: Global levels and trends in birth registration. 2024 update” was released on 11 December 2024 and contains the latest updates on the number of children registered since 2019, when global levels stood at 75%.

According to the Report's data, over 500 million children under the age of 5 (nearly 8 out of 10) have been registered at birth in the past 5 years, while more than 50 million, although registered, do not have a birth certificate.

The Report reveals that global progress has largely been driven by countries prioritising timely registration, leveraging healthcare, social protection and education systems, expanding services to more locations, digitising the registration process and eliminating taxes. Latin America and the Caribbean have achieved 95%, East and South east Asia 94%, and Central and South Asia 78%.

In sub-Saharan Africa, progress and levels vary widely: Southern Africa, for example, leads the way with 88%, while West Africa has made the most progress in 15 years, reaching 63%; East Africa and Central Africa lag behind, both with 41%.

The Report is available on the Unicef website.

Other materials and news can be found on this site under the topic, Childhood and  Rights of Children and Adolescents accessible from the "Topics" navigation menu.