REPUBLIKA, NEW YORK -- Nearly 230 million children under the age of five have not had their births officially recorded, excluding them from education, health care and social security, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported on Wednesday.
That is approximately one in three of all children under five who are unregistered or lack proof of registration, the UN agency said in a report released to coincide with its 67th birthday.
The report titled "Every Child's Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration" collects statistical analysis spanning 161 countries and presents the latest available country data and estimates on birth registration.
Globally in 2012, only around 60 percent of all babies born were registered at birth. The rates vary significantly across regions, with the lowest levels of birth registration found in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
The 10 countries with the lowest birth registration levels are: Somalia (3 percent), Liberia (4 percent), Ethiopia (7 percent), Zambia (14 percent), Chad (16 percent), United Republic of Tanzania (16 percent), Yemen (17 percent), Guinea-Bissau (24 percent), Pakistan (27 percent) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (28 percent), UNICEF said.
Children unregistered at birth or without identification documents are often excluded from accessing education, health care and social security. If children are separated from their families during natural disasters, conflicts or as a result of exploitation, reuniting them is made more difficult by the lack of official documentation.
"Birth registration is more than just a right. It's how societies first recognize and acknowledge a child's identity and existence," said Geeta Rao Gupta, UNICEF's deputy executive director. She added that registration is also key "to guaranteeing that children are not forgotten, denied their rights or hidden from the progress of their nations."
Only around 60 percent of births last year were recorded, with the lowest levels of registration in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, according to the report. Even when children are recorded, one in seven does not have a physical birth certificate as proof of registration, it said.
"All children are born with enormous potential. But if societies fail to count them, and don't even recognize that they are there, they are more vulnerable to neglect and abuse," Gupta said. "Inevitably, their potential will be severely diminished."
Birth registration not only aids children and their families, but the overall communities and countries. In addition to contributing to a country's civil registry, birth registration also strengthens the quality of vital statistics, aiding planning and government efficiency, said UNICEF.
Among the reasons for not registering, the report authors cite prohibitive costs, cultural barriers and fears of discrimination or marginalization.
Unregistered births are a "symptom of the inequities and disparities in a society," the report said, with birth of children living in rural or remote areas, from poor families, and to uneducated mothers most likely not to be registered.
In the report, UNICEF highlights innovative approaches to support governments and communities in strengthening their civil and birth registration systems.
Among such projects supported by UNICEF is the use of mobile- based registration platforms in Kosovo and Uganda, which cut the birth registration process from months to minutes.
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