In a remote village in northern Bangladesh, a young widow named Fatema struggles to claim her husband’s inheritance. Without a death certificate, her rightful claim is trapped in endless paperwork.
A few miles away, a child is denied school admission because her parents cannot present a birth certificate. Two lives, two different stories, but the same root problem: Bangladesh’s weak birth and death registration law and its poor implementation.
Birth and death registration is the foundation of human rights and good governance. A birth certificate proves who you are; a death certificate ensures dignity, justice, and protection for the family left behind.
Together, they are the gateway to education, health care, inheritance, voting, and social protection. Without them, millions stay legally invisible, excluded from services, and uncounted in the nation’s future.
Globally, the progress is inspiring. Now, 77% of children under five are registered at birth, up from 60% in 2000. In South Asia, countries like the Maldives and Sri Lanka have nearly universal registration.
Yet Bangladesh lingers behind: Only 50% of births and 47% of deaths are officially registered. For a nation that has pledged to achieve 100% registration by 2030, this gap is unsettling.
The problem lies not in intent but in law and implementation. Bangladesh enacted the Birth and Death Registration Act in 2004, but left major loopholes. Families, not institutions, are responsible for registering births and deaths.
This model fails because it burdens individuals, especially poor, rural, and marginalized households, with navigating an under-resourced bureaucracy. Meanwhile, 67% of children are born in hospitals.
If the law obliged hospital authorities to register those births and deaths, registration rates would soar up.
Other shortcomings also hold the system back. Fees for correcting errors on certificates discourage poor families from seeking services. Despite government commitment to UNESCAP, the law does not require the Bureau of Statistics to generate vital statistics from registration data, leaving policymakers blind to accurate health and demographic trends.
The price of inaction is distressing. Without universal registration, Bangladesh cannot effectively plan its schools, hospitals, or budgets. Diseases spread unregulated because deaths go unrecorded. Vulnerable groups, particularly the impoverished, women, children, and older persons, suffer disproportionately as a result of resource mismanagement.
The solution is within reach. Lawmakers must urgently amend the 2004 Act to assign health centres legal responsibility for registering all births and deaths under their roof, waive fees for applications for correction made within 45 days and mandate the Bureau of Statistics to compile vital statistics from registration data.
Combined with legal reform, the government must increase awareness, simplify registration, train staff, and ensure strong coordination across relevant ministries.
Bangladesh has just five years left to meet its global pledge of universal birth and death registration by 2030. The clock is ticking. Every unregistered child is a citizen denied their rights; every unrecorded death is a life erased from history.
Fatema deserves better. Every Bangladeshi deserves to be seen, counted, and protected. The path is clear -- it is time to act.
Muhammad Ruhul Quddus is Bangladesh country lead, Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI).
