UNICEF’s Representative to Ghana, Andy Brooks, warned that only 61% of children in the country have birth certificates, leaving almost 40% without a formal legal identity. The shortfall could exclude children from national statistics used for development planning and limit their access to essential services.
Brooks said birth registration is vital for ensuring every child is counted and included in government planning, particularly for healthcare, education and social protection programmes. He made the remarks at the Eighth International Research Conference of the College of Humanities at the University of Ghana.
He noted that unreliable registration data hampers effective policymaking, making it difficult for the government and development partners to accurately plan programmes for children. To illustrate the scale of the challenge, Brooks recounted a recent visit to Boapasi in the Eastern Region, where only a handful of children among hundreds gathered in the community had birth certificates.
"The children are not being counted, and if they are not being counted, planners are unable to provide the right level of health, education and other social services for them," Brooks said.
He attributed the gap partly to weak telecommunications connectivity and limited access to digital registration services in remote communities, calling for targeted interventions to close the divide. Brooks also underscored the importance of research and evidence‑based policymaking, stating that quality data is essential for identifying inequalities and directing resources to vulnerable populations.
UNICEF’s findings urge Ghana’s authorities to strengthen birth registration systems and improve data collection to ensure all children receive the services they need.
