Leading public health experts have called for an urgent amendment to Bangladesh’s Birth and Death Registration Act, identifying it as the critical hurdle to achieving the government’s goal of universal registration by 2030.
The call was made during a webinar titled “Birth and Death Registration in Bangladesh: Progress, Challenges, and Way Forward,” organized by PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) with support from the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) on Monday, October 6, 2025, to mark National Birth and Death Registration Day.
Despite the fundamental role of registration in securing rights to education, healthcare, and voting, as well as in development planning and public health, Bangladesh is lagging significantly. Data presented at the webinar revealed that the national birth registration rate is only 50%, and the death registration rate is a mere 47%. These figures fall drastically below the global averages of 77% and 74%, respectively, and trail behind regional peers like the Maldives and Sri Lanka, which have achieved near-universal coverage.
Experts pinpointed a key weakness in the current law: the lack of a legal mandate for hospitals and healthcare facilities to handle registration.
“Assigning the responsibility to healthcare facilities through legal reform will make it possible to include everyone under registration coverage by 2030,” said Muhammad Ruhul Quddus, Bangladesh Country Lead for GHAI. He emphasized that this reform is also instrumental in achieving SDG target 16.9, which requires providing legal identity for all, including birth registration.
Such an amendment would automatically capture nearly 67% of children born in healthcare facilities. Improved death registration, they argued, would also strengthen inheritance rights, social protection, and women’s rights.
Beyond the core legal change, speakers proposed further reforms, including the waiving of correction fees for applications to amend errors in certificates within 45 days of a birth or death. They also recommended legally mandating the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics to prepare and publish “Vital Statistics” using the registration data.
Md. Nazrul Islam, Country Coordinator for Vital Strategies, stressed that legal reform must be paired with stronger implementation. He highlighted the need for “raising public awareness on registration, addressing workforce shortages, resolving technical problems, streamlining procedures, and ensuring better coordination with the relevant sectors.”
The webinar, presided over by ABM Zubair, Executive Director of PROGGA, and moderated by Coordinator Mashiat Abedin, included other discussants such as Sajjadur Rahman, Deputy Editor of The Business Standard, alongside journalists and civil society representatives.
