CONTEXT

• Held in Bangkok, Thailand by UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific).
• Participating governments committed to ensuring 100% registration of births and deaths by 2030.
• Builds upon the CRVS Decade (2015–2024) launched in 2014 with the slogan “Get everyone in the picture.”
• Extended timeline to 2030 to align with Sustainable Development Goal 16.9: Legal identity for all, including birth registration.

CONCEPT: IMPORTANCE OF CRVS SYSTEMS

• Defined as the continuous, compulsory, universal recording of vital events (births, deaths, marriages, divorces, cause of death).
• Birth registration: Enables legal identity, access to healthcare, education, social protection.
• Death registration: Critical for inheritance, insurance, and public health planning.
• Helps protect vulnerable populations – prevents child marriage, trafficking, modern slavery.
• Legal identity promotes justice, governance, and inclusion.
• A well-functioning CRVS system is key to data-driven policy-making and public service delivery.

CURRENT

ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

• Unregistered children under 5 reduced from 135 million (2012) to 51 million (2022) – 60% drop.
• 29 countries have achieved >90% birth registration; 30 for death registration.
• Still, 14 million births unregistered annually; 6.9 million deaths unrecorded.
• New roadmap (till 2030) focuses on:
  • Digital transformation
  • Interoperable data systems
  • Legal reform and inclusivity
  • Gender equity and privacy safeguards

INDIA’S PROGRESS

• Civil registration under Registrar-General of India, supported by Ministry of Health.
• Birth registration rate improved from 86% to 96% over the CRVS decade.
• Digital initiatives:
  • Online/offline registration software
  • Central CRVS portal
  • Digilocker integration for digital certificates
• Legal reforms:
  • Covers orphaned, adopted, surrogate children, single-parent births
  • Mandatory cause of death reporting by medical institutions
• Challenges identified:
  • Lack of awareness
  • Poor inter-departmental coordination
  • Underreporting by registration units