Nigeria Launches Digital Birth and Death Registration System

The National Population Commission (NPC) of Nigeria announced that the country records approximately five million births annually, with a registration coverage of only 57% for births and below 20% for deaths. Alhaji Aminu Yussuf, the NPC Chairman, made this announcement during the launch of the registration of births and deaths in Minna on Monday.

He emphasized that the lack of registration deprives many Nigerians of legal identity and limits the availability of reliable data for national planning. To address these challenges, the NPC has established 4,011 functional registration centers across Nigeria's 774 local government areas, with plans to expand to about 8,000 centers.

This initiative is part of a nationwide digital registration system under the electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (E-CRVS) system, which aims to modernize civil registration and ensure accurate documentation of births and deaths. Yussuf described this digital innovation as a transformative reform in civil registration, aligning with the government's Renewed Hope Agenda.