World Population Day 2010: Everyone Counts

July 11, 2010 is World Population Day. This year’s theme is 'Good data can make a difference'.

This year World Population Day highlights the importance of demographic data for development – and what better data than a birth certificate. Without one, no child officially exists, has no chance of schooling or a future career, and is at risk of being trafficked and exploited.

Without birth registration, governments cannot determine how people live in their country, how many doses of a vaccine to buy to protect their citizens against major diseases, or how many schools to build.

Recognizing the need for birth registration, Plan launched a four-year Universal Birth Registration (UBR) campaign in 2005, culminating recently with startling successes. More than 40 million people across 32 countries, most of them children, now have access to vital health and education services thanks to the project. The successful efforts to register millions has given many children access to a raft of benefits from life-saving medicine and health care, welfare support, schooling, voting and legal aid.

The campaign helped improve laws in 10 countries – enabling access to registration for an additional estimated 153 million people and ensuring birth certificates for generations to come.

Registration rates soar 

There has been dramatic change in some countries over short periods of time. For example, in Cambodia around seven million people picked up their birth certificates in only 10 months. And one area of Indonesia saw registration rates soar from only 3% to 72% in two years.

The UBR campaign has given official recognition to many remote and marginalized groups - from 20,000 street children in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to the Baka people of Cameroon who had never previously been officially registered.

“At a glance, it’s just a piece of paper, but a birth certificate can be a passport to essential human rights,” said Plan International Chief Executive Officer Nigel Chapman. “Being unregistered can leave you more vulnerable, disenfranchised and stateless - ‘invisible’ in effect. But being able to prove one’s identity and age opens up a wealth of opportunity - from sitting an examination and opening a bank account to inheriting land and casting your vote.”

'Slumdog Millionaire' star and Plan UBR ambassador in India, Anil Kapoor, said: “Because of this campaign, I believe children will be better protected from all kinds of age-related discrimination, exploitation and abuse and I will continue to champion this cause until we achieve 100% registration!”

Plan is calling on national governments to make registration free and accessible and to register children after birth as soon as possible.