Obstacles to birth registration in Niger: estimates from a recent household survey

Abstract

Abstract Despite progress made towards increasing birth registration rates over the last dozen years, almost one in two children may still not get registered at birth in Niger according to a recent nationally representative household survey. What can be done to improve birth registration rates? This paper relies on a simple approach to measure how solving various obstacles to birth registration faced by parents could help increase birth registration rates. Controlling for other factors affecting birth registrations, the analysis relies on local-level reasons declared by households for not registering their children. The estimation method provides measures of potential gains in birth registration rates from different actions, including providing services closer to where households live, improving household knowledge about the fact that birth registration is both mandatory and beneficial for children, and reducing the out-of-pocket costs of birth registration. The analysis remains exploratory, but it provides hopefully useful insights about the likely benefits that could be derived from various policies utilized for increasing rates of birth registrations.