UNICEF · Completeness of Birth Registration
Birth registration by country
What share of young children have their birth registered?
Of the 167 countries compared in the 2025 edition, 52 countries shared the highest reading, 100.0%, and Ethiopia had the lowest reading, 2.7%. In the middle country the figure was 98.4%. 18 readings from before 2015 are listed but not compared.
Birth registration · the 2025 edition
Context statistic
52 countries share the highest value, 100.0% — no single country is named first.
01the 2025 edition · values only
Who leads
The three countries at the highest end of 167 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
Highest in the 2025 edition · shared
52 countries share the highest reading, 100.0%
No single country is named first: picking one from a shared value would be a choice the data does not make.
Andorra
United Arab Emirates
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Bulgaria
Bahrain
Belarus
Botswana
Canada
Switzerland
Cook Islands
Cyprus
Czechia
Germany
Denmark
Spain
Estonia
Finland
France
United Kingdom
Greece
Croatia
Hungary
Ireland
Iceland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Latvia
Monaco
Malta
Montserrat
Netherlands
Norway
New Zealand- and 12 more — every one is in the list below
Lowest in the 2025 edition
Ethiopia2.7%
Zambia7.9%
Papua New Guinea13.4%
Where a country sits says how it compares with the others measured, and nothing about why.
02Every measured country
Birth registration on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a higher value — the better end.
- 2.7–78.1%
- 78.2–96.4%
- 96.7–99.7%
- 99.8–100.0%
- Hatched: a reading from before 2015, listed but not compared (18)
- No reading in the 2025 edition
- Europe
100.0%
the middle country, of 40 measured · 49 members
36 share 100.0%
Kosovo98.1%Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Asia
98.9%
the middle country, of 42 measured · 52 members
9 share 100.0%
Yemen29.4%Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Americas
96.7%
the middle country, of 27 measured · 48 members
3 share 100.0%
Paraguay71.6%Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Oceania
88.0%
the middle country, of 13 measured · 21 members
3 share 100.0%
Papua New Guinea13.4%Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Africa
78.1%
the middle country, of 45 measured · 55 members
Botswana100.0%Ethiopia2.7%Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Every region
22 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- Eastern Europe
100.0%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 10 members
8 share 100.0%
8 share 100.0%
Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Northern Europe
100.0%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
10 share 100.0%
10 share 100.0%
Highest and lowest reading in Northern Europe.
- Southern Europe
100.0%
the middle country, of 13 measured · 17 members
9 share 100.0%
Kosovo98.1%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
- Western Europe
100.0%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 9 members
9 share 100.0%
9 share 100.0%
Highest and lowest reading in Western Europe.
- Western Asia
99.8%
the middle country, of 16 measured · 19 members
7 share 100.0%
Yemen29.4%Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- Central Asia
99.7%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Uzbekistan100.0%
Tajikistan96.8%Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Northern Africa
99.6%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 6 members
Tunisia99.8%
Morocco96.9%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Caribbean
99.1%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 24 members
Montserrat100.0%
Haiti84.8%Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- Central America
96.4%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 8 members
El Salvador99.0%
Mexico93.9%Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- South America
96.4%
the middle country, of 11 measured · 12 members
Chile99.8%Paraguay71.6%Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- South-eastern Asia
94.0%
the middle country, of 11 measured · 11 members
2 share 99.9%
Timor-Leste60.4%Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Southern Africa
80.1%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Botswana100.0%
Eswatini65.7%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
- Western Africa
74.5%
the middle country, of 15 measured · 16 members
Côte d’Ivoire95.5%
Nigeria39.7%Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
- Southern Asia
73.2%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Sri Lanka98.9%
Pakistan42.2%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
- Eastern Africa
70.8%
the middle country, of 12 measured · 19 members
Comoros95.1%Ethiopia2.7%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Middle Africa
53.3%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 9 members
São Tomé and Príncipe98.6%
Chad25.7%Highest and lowest reading in Middle Africa.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
2 share 100.0%
2 share 100.0%
Highest and lowest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Eastern Asia
3 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: China, Japan, Mongolia.
Japan100.0%
China96.7%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Melanesia
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.
Solomon Islands88.0%Papua New Guinea13.4%Highest and lowest reading in Melanesia.
- Micronesia
3 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru.
Nauru99.1%
Marshall Islands83.8%Highest and lowest reading in Micronesia.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
2 share 100.0%
2 share 100.0%
Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
- Polynesia
4 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu.
Cook Islands100.0%
Samoa66.9%Highest and lowest reading in Polynesia.
03The whole field at once
The spread
167 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 98.4%; a quarter are above 100.0%, and a quarter below 84.3%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 185 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first. No rank or position is shown: too many countries share the same value for an order to mean anything. Registration is universal across the rich world, so 53 countries share 100% and no position is shown — the interesting half of this table is the bottom. Note also that being registered is not the same as holding a certificate: some children are recorded but have no document to show.
Showing 25 of 185 countries
Values for the 2025 edition.
05In this edition
Birth registration in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading
Reached 52 times by 52 countries — shared, so no holder is named
100.0%
Children under 5 whose birth is registered (%)
Lowest reading
2.7%
Children under 5 whose birth is registered (%)
06By sex
Inside the number
UNICEF also publishes separate female and male readings. The gap between them, where both exist.
Of the 153 countries with both readings, the girls reading is higher in 35, the boys reading in 57, and they are equal in 61. The widest gaps each way:
16 countries' readings are too old to compare and are left out; they are still listed under Every country.
07The measure
About birth registration
Birth registration is whether a child's existence is recorded by a civil authority. It is the document every other entitlement is claimed with — school, healthcare, inheritance, a passport, a vote — and a child without it is invisible to the state.
What the number is: Children under 5 whose birth is registered (%).
08Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Governance & Institutions and Development & Human Capital, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Governance & InstitutionsDevelopment & Human CapitalWhich statistics vote, and why
Moves with
Where birth registration is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Inequality-adjusted Human Development IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office · 148 countries in commonρ 0.88
- Human Development IndexKeyUNDP Human Development Report Office · 162 countries in commonρ 0.88
- Human Capital IndexWorld Bank Group · 148 countries in commonρ 0.87
Moves against
Where birth registration is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Maternal Mortality RatioKeyMMEIG · 163 countries in commonρ −0.87
- Gender Inequality IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office · 152 countries in commonρ −0.87
- Infant Mortality RateUN IGME · 166 countries in commonρ −0.87
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 185 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
09Keep reading
Explore further
The data, edition by edition
The countries at either end
10Questions
Birth registration: questions and answers
Which country has the highest birth registration?
52 countries share the highest reading, 100.0%, among the 167 compared in the 2025 edition, so no single country is named.
Which country has the lowest birth registration?
Ethiopia, at 2.7%, among the 167 countries compared in the 2025 edition.
How many countries does the Completeness of Birth Registration cover?
167 in the 2025 edition, and 185 at least once across all editions.
What is the world average birth registration?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 167 compared in the 2025 edition, the figure was 98.4%.
Is this UNICEF’s own ranking?
No ranking is shown. UNICEF publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything, so none is derived.
How often is the Completeness of Birth Registration published?
This site holds one edition, describing 2025.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From UNICEF, under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Read from UNICEF's own data warehouse rather than the World Bank's copy, which rounds the same figure to zero or one decimal. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
11Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Completeness of Birth Registration — UNICEF
Read from UNICEF's own data warehouse rather than the World Bank's copy, which rounds the same figure to zero or one decimal.
Newest edition
Report year 2025Data year not recorded
Cite the source as: UNICEF. UNICEF Data Warehouse. New York: UNICEF.
Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO, checked 2026-09-10.
How this page reads the numbers
- No rank or position is shown: UNICEF publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- The file gives each country’s most recent reading, so the rows are from different years. Readings from before 2015 are listed but left out of every comparison on this page.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Birth registration by country: Completeness of Birth Registration, data from UNICEF. https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/birth-registration