Civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems are the foundation of legal identity, with birth registration granting individuals access to essential rights and services, and death certification supporting legal and administrative processes. These systems also serve as safeguards against child marriage, trafficking and modern slavery by verifying age and identity. CRVS is central to achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 16.9: legal identity for all by 2030.
Beyond individual benefits, CRVS systems generate critical data on births, deaths and causes of death, supporting health planning, disease surveillance, and evidence-based policymaking. They contribute to 67 indicators across 12 SDGs by enabling accurate population estimates and demographic analysis.
Recognizing their importance, leaders in Asia and the Pacific launched the CRVS Decade (2015–2024) with the Ministerial Declaration to "Get Every One in the Picture". The initiative set three goals: universal registration of vital events, legal documentation for all, and the production of accurate and timely statistics. A Regional Action Framework guided implementation, with national targets and regular progress reviews.
The 2025 review, based on data from 50 ESCAP members and associate members, shows notable improvements:
- Countries registering over 90 per cent of births within a year increased from 16 to 29; for deaths, from 17 to 30.
- Number of unregistered children under five years of age in Asia and the Pacific dropped from 135 million (2012) to 51 million (2024), according to UNICEF.
- Estimated number of unregistered deaths in Asia and the Pacific decreased from 8.2 million per year in 2018 to 6.9 million annually in 2023, approximately 21 per cent of all deaths.
- Countries using ICD-10 or ICD-11 for cause-of-death coding rose from 25 to 42.
However, challenges remain:
- An estimated 14 million children in the region are still unregistered by their first birthday.
- Death registration completeness lags in some countries, especially for community deaths.
- Verbal autopsy remains underused, with only 30 per cent using it to produce cause of death information for community deaths in 2024.
- Medical certification of causes of death and ICD coding quality still need improvement.
Digitalization and increased training efforts helped enhance data quality and public dissemination. By 2024, 84% of reporting countries and territories used civil registration data for vital statistics production, up from 58 per cent in 2014. Publication rate of vital statistics reports also improved with 72 per cent of reporting members and associate members publicly disseminating the reports in 2024 compared to 38 per cent in 2014.
Despite progress, persistent gaps remain. The Regional Steering Group recommended extending the CRVS Decade to 2030 to fully implement reforms and build inclusive, resilient CRVS systems that support sustainable development and ensure that no one is left behind. At the Third Ministerial Conference on CRVS in Asia and the Pacific, 24-26 June 2025, Ministers and heads of delegation from members and associate members of ESCAP approved the extension of the CRVS Decade to 2030.