Millions of children under the age of 5 are still unregistered across Asia, according to a new report by the UN’s Statistics Division of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). While this figure remains high, major progress has been made in the region over the past decade, having dropped from 135 million unregistered children in 2012 to 51 million in 2024.
On an individual level registration is important as birth certificates grant people formal legal recognition, leading to access to rights and services from healthcare to education, as well as participation in political and economic life and social protection. For example, such documentation can be used as a safeguard against child marriage, trafficking and slavery by verifying age and identity. But on a societal level too, registration enables governments to better plan and deliver these services based on more accurate data of their populations. Data on births, deaths and causes of death not only provide insights into fertility and mortality trends, but also support disease surveillance, health planning and evidence-based policymaking.
As the following chart shows, South and South-West Asia continue to be the places with the largest number of under 5s who are not registered, at 43 million or (84.1 percent of the total in 2024), down from 50.2 million (78.1 percent) in 2019. The subregion also experienced the greatest absolute reduction (7.2 million) in unregistered children. Meanwhile, the South-East Asia and East and North-East subregions saw reductions of 4.5 million and 1.5 million unregistered children, respectively, since 2019.
