MORE than 9 million Filipinos do not have birth certificates and possess copies of these records nationwide, according to the latest birth registration data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
As of 2021 there are a total of 9.26 million Filipinos whose births are either not registered with PSA, or don’t have copies of these certificates.
Birth registration is part of the United Nations Development Programme’s Sustainable Development Goals. Target 16.9 of SDG 16 on promoting peaceful and inclusive societies centers on providing a legal identity for all—including birth registration.
“The statistics presented were based on the answers and information provided by the respondent, or who don’t any responsible member of the household, to the questions on birth registration about all the household members,” PSA said.
Those who do not have birth certificates reached 3.53 million, while those who do not have copies of their documents reached 5.74 million.
The data also showed that in terms of birth registration, another 190,127 Filipinos do not know if their births were registered at the PSA, and some 11,027 did not say if their births were registered.
Meanwhile, when asked whether they had copies of their birth records, some 208,128 Filipinos said they did not know; 11,611 did not say if they had copies of their birth certificates.
“For the 2020 Census of Population and Housing, birth-registration data of all household members were collected by asking the respondents: ‘Was [the household member’s] birth registered with the Local Civil Registry Office?,’ and ‘Has [he/she] ever had a copy of his/her birth certificate?’,” PSA explained.
Bulk of those birth registrations were composed of Filipinos aged 15 to 64 at 1.87 million, followed by those aged zero to 14 at 1.33 million. Some 334,897 Filipinos 65 years old and over were also unregistered with PSA.
Based on the said data, some 417,555 Filipinos who are about to graduate, start working, or are already starting their respective careers do not have birth documents. They belong to the 20- to 29-year-old age bracket.
“Across age groups, the household population aged 15 to 19 years old had the highest proportion of registered births at 98 percent,” PSA revealed.
“The lowest proportion, [meanwhile, was noted among the oldest age group who are 80 years and over at] 91.3 percent, followed by those in the age group 75 to 79 years, or 92.6 percent,” it added.
The data also showed that the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) posted the lowest proportion of persons with registered births, with only 77 percent of the household population.
PSA said this corresponds to 1.1 million persons in the region who were reported to have not registered their births.
Likewise, in terms of those who do not have a copy of their birth records, some 1.23 million Filipinos living in BARMM do not have their certificates.
This is followed by Eastern Visayas with 507,974 residents not having copies of their birth records; Central Luzon, 377,107; Western Visayas with 372,040; and Zamboanga Peninsula, 349,874.
Moreover, the data showed that of 108.67 million Filipinos, only 104.94 million have registered births with the government, and 102.71 million have copies of their documents.
Among the 104.94 million household population whose births were registered with the Local Civil Registry Offices (LCROs), there were more males than females.
Data presented some 50.6 percent, or 53.1 million were males; while 49.4 percent, or 51.84 million, were females.
“This translates to a sex ratio of 103 males whose births were registered with the LCRO for every 100 females whose births were also [enlisted],’ PSA said.
The PSA said census results from 1995 to 2020 show an increasing trend in the proportion of persons with registered births: from 89.3 percent in 1995, to 94.8 percent in 2015, and 96.6 percent in 2020.
“The 2020 figure is higher by 1.8 percentage points [that of] 2015, and 7.3 percentage points more than the 89.3 percent…in 1995,” PSA noted.
In terms of the proportion of persons with registered births, Ilocos Region was highest with 99.2 percent, followed by the Cordillera Administrative Region with 99.1 percent, and Calabarzon with 98.8 percent.
Among the 81 provinces, Mountain Province—at 99.9 percent—posted the highest proportion of the household population whose births were reported to be registered.
PSA said it was followed by Ilocos Norte at 99.6 percent and Batangas, La Union and Siquijor at 99.4 percent in each of those provinces.
