Samoa's population cannot be accurately determined due to gaps in the data collection process which include the non-registration of a large number of people with disabilities.

The Registrar General of Births, Death and Marriages, Fiu Faaolatane Ponifasio Vasa revealed the gaps in their data collection process during an interview with the Samoa Observer. 

He said the non-registering of people with disabilities as well as some of those who were aged over 50 years of age has been an ongoing issue and has worsened over the years. 

“There are also people in their 50s who have failed to register their birth because of their disabilities and worse, their parents also have disabilities and that’s the most difficult part,” said Fiu.

Explaining the challenges that officials have with people who have disabilities, the senior official said often they are not registered at birth and if their parents also have disabilities, then it is likely the adults also missed getting registered. 

He said remoteness and access to the office of the Division of Births, Deaths and Marriages is also an issue, especially for newborns who are not registered. 

Families living in rural communities also find it difficult to travel to town to undertake the birth registration process, which Fiu said they've identified as a major obstacle to getting accurate population data. 

“That’s partly why we do our outreach programmes because of our people out in the rural villages,” he said. "Those residents are used to the plantation life and that’s become a mentality now so we are doing this with the hope of combating this issue because it’s been an ongoing issue for a long time. 

“Back then, we had people out in the communities representing the office doing the registrations like the village mayors and there were also statistic officers in the hospitals so when they’re born, they register at the hospital.

“But now, we cannot now with the current population that has increased over the years, but if it was back then, it still would have been easier because the population was small not as how it is now.”

Another challenge for the office is the faults found in the registration process, which Fiu said has led to them restarting the whole process again.

“We end up redoing the whole process because of the wrong information gathered and one of the reasons why we get it wrong is because of the wrong information being provided by the people.

“That’s why we take this opportunity to ask people to provide the right information so we can note down the right information for the statistics.”

Meanwhile, the office is currently working with the United Nations Office in Samoa to come up with a solution to address these issues through outreach programmes.

In April this year, limited or non-existent legal and policy frameworks was also highlighted as one of the current challenges to an effective birth registration system in Samoa.

Currently, the country only has the "Births, Deaths, and Marriages Registration Act 2002" which has been described as the only legislative document guiding the birth registration process in the country.

The country's shortcomings were highlighted in a report titled "Strengthening the Birth Registration System in Samoa – Intelligence Report", which was co-authored by the UNDP and the Samoa Bureau of Statistics (S.B.S.).

The report also stated that the SBS staff reported limited knowledge of the roles and responsibilities of the other Government Ministries and stakeholders in the birth registration process.

"S.B.S. staff reported having limited knowledge on roles and responsibilities of other ministries and stakeholders in the implementation of the birth registration process," reads the report. 

"The issuance of an official birth certificate is a distinct activity that should follow the registration of a birth as it serves as proof of identity and legislation should explicitly mandate that the official certificate be delivered as proof of registration."