UNICEF Fact Sheet on Birth registration in Eastern and Southern Africa
Published: 1/Jan/2015
Source: UNICEF
Nothing would seem simpler than recording the name, sex, parentage, and time and place of a child’s birth. However, this “first rights” of a child, as enshrined in both the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, remain unfulfilled for the majority of Africa’s children.
Only 44 per cent of sub-Saharan Africa’s children under-five years of age are registered today, and in rural areas, the rate is even lower. For children of Eastern and Southern Africa, the reality is even more worrying: only 38 per cent of children are registered, ranging widely from 3 per cent in Somalia to 95 per cent in South Africa.