Only 61% of Ghanaian children have birth certificates – UNICEF reveals

UNICEF has raised concerns over Ghana’s low birth registration coverage, revealing that only 61% of children in the country have birth certificates, leaving nearly four out of every 10 without formal legal identity.

Andy Brooks, UNICEF Representative to Ghana, warned that children without birth certificates risk being excluded from official statistics used for national development planning and may have limited access to essential services.

He said birth registration was critical to ensuring that every child was counted and included in government planning, particularly in the provision of healthcare, education and social protection services.

Brooks made the remarks at the Eighth International Research Conference of the College of Humanities at the University of Ghana.

He said the absence of reliable registration data was hampering effective policymaking and making it difficult for government and development partners to accurately plan programmes for children.

To illustrate the scale of the challenge, Brooks recounted a recent visit to Boapasi in the Eastern Region, where only a handful of children among hundreds gathered in the community had birth certificates.

“The children are not being counted, and if they are not being counted, planners are unable to provide the right level of health, education and other social services for them,” he said.

He attributed the challenge partly to weak telecommunications connectivity and limited access to digital registration services in remote communities, calling for targeted interventions to close the gap.

The UNICEF Representative also underscored the importance of research and evidence-based policymaking, saying quality data was essential for identifying inequalities and directing resources to vulnerable populations.

Source: GNA