Samoa has the lowest birth registration rate in the Pacific with a new report stating that the birth registration of children below 5 years stands at 66 per cent.

Keeping count of how many Samoans are born each year, on top of having the accurate number recorded, is proving to be a challenge that the Samoa Bureau of Statistics (S.B.S.) hopes to overcome.

The launching of the bureau’s Intelligence Report on Thursday focused on strengthening the birth registration system in Samoa. According to the report on the birth registration process, several supply-side factors were identified as barriers to timely birth registration.

In Samoa, recorded birth registration of children below the age of 5 years currently stands at 66 per cent – when considering a sample size of 3,675 households – which accounts for 10 per cent of Samoa's total population.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the estimated current birth registration rate for the total population is around 60 per cent which ranks Samoa as the lowest birth registration rate in the Pacific.

“The delayed notification of birth, complex registration form and verification process, lack of awareness amongst main informants and stakeholders, lack of easy access to registration services, complex process and lack of control checks, ineffective utilization and adoption of technology, lack of integrated information system and interoperability of technology systems, high number of backlogs of unregistered individuals, frequent service disruption” stated the report.

“A review of the existing legislation found that there were gaps in the current laws with some being discriminatory or divergent from UN standards and international best practices.

“Major issues were identified with relevance to governance and institutional mechanisms including, but not limited to, the lack of institutional coordination, capacity and memory and lack of accountability as well as prioritization and commitment.

“It is also observed that use of obsolete technology for birth registration is another critical systemic issue resulting in delayed birth registration.”

Similarly, demand-side factors hindering timely birth registration were identified as well. These include a lack of public awareness and information, sociocultural practices and norms, lack of incentives, and direct and indirect costs such as transportation costs and fees charged to print and issue birth certificates.

The report stated that a birth certificate is the first and often only proof of legal identity, particularly for children, making it necessary to establish a nationality that prevents the risk of statelessness and helps protect children against separation from trafficking, and illegal adoption.

The report also stated that it is also crucial in safeguarding children from violence, abuse, and exploitation including, but not limited to, being forced into early marriage, labour market, or armed forces which often thrive on non-registration.

“Additionally, it ensures access to basic services such as routine vaccines and other healthcare services as well as early childhood education,” said the report.

“The final phase, transform, focuses on generating rapid learning about possible pathways or interventions that can impact the wider birth registration system process. These include bringing the whole-of-society approach for improved birth registration processes and digital transformation of the current CRVS system.”