Experts on Saturday stressed the need for universal birth and death registration in Bangladesh, saying it is essential for protecting citizens’ rights and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
They made the remarks at a webinar titled “Strong Registration System for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals: Bangladesh Perspective,” organised by PROGGA with support from the Global Health Advocacy Incubator.
Speakers at the event said Bangladesh’s current birth and death registration rates remain significantly below global and regional averages due to legal and implementation gaps.
According to the discussion, the country’s birth registration rate currently stands at 50 percent, while death registration is only 47 percent.
The webinar highlighted that SDG Target 16.9 emphasises providing legal identity for all, including birth registration, while birth registration is also necessary for accessing government social safety net programmes under SDG Target 1.3.
Speakers said death registration is crucial for tracking maternal mortality, child mortality, non-communicable diseases and disease surveillance systems, contributing directly to several SDG targets related to public health.
They also noted that birth certificates play an important role in school enrolment and preventing child marriage and child labour by verifying children’s ages, thereby supporting education and gender equality goals.
Despite nearly 67 percent of children being born in healthcare facilities, the responsibility for registration still largely rests with families rather than health institutions, speakers observed.
They warned that the absence of mandatory registration systems in healthcare facilities leaves a large segment of the population outside official state records and hampers effective planning in health and development sectors.
Country Coordinator of Vital Strategies Md Nazrul Islam said strengthening registration laws and improving coordination among ministries and the Local Government Division were essential for accelerating SDG implementation.
Bangladesh Country Lead of the Global Health Advocacy Incubator Muhammad Ruhul Quddus said universal registration could be ensured by amending the Birth and Death Registration Act, 2004, to shift legal responsibility from individuals to healthcare facilities.
Assistant News Editor of Prothom Alo Partha Shankar Saha said keeping half the country’s population outside the registration system posed a major obstacle to achieving the SDGs.
“It is the responsibility of the media to strongly highlight these legal loopholes before policymakers,” he said.
Journalists from print, television and online media, along with civil society representatives and subject experts, participated in the webinar.
The session was chaired by Executive Director of PROGGA ABM Zubair and moderated by coordinator Mashiat Abedin, who also presented the keynote paper.
