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Birth certificate issuance dips 31pc on booklets shortage
Residents of Mombasa County crowd the registration of persons office at Bima Towers to obtain birth certificates as the ministry’s deadline approaches, in this photo taken on February 20, 2018.
The number of birth certificates issued to Kenyans last year dropped 30.8 percent to 1.35 million on the back of inadequate supply of printing booklets, dampening efforts by hundreds of thousands of applicants to obtain the crucial document.
New data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that during the period, issuances were 601,562 less than the 1.95 million certificates handed to citizens in 2023.
“This decline is largely attributed to inadequate supply of birth certificate booklets,” wrote KNBS in its annual Kenya Vital Statistics Report.
A legal document and proof of age particularly for children, a birth certificate facilitates access to crucial services such as education, health services and social protection benefits.
It also aids in the protection against child abuses such as forced labour, child marriage and trafficking of minors among others.
In education, for instance, a birth certificate is required to generate an examination assessment number for lower grade learners, before they are issued with a Unique Personal Identifier (UPI) which they use throughout their education journey.
The Kenyan law, however, does not recognise a birth certificate as proof of citizenship, with the entitlement to nationality being pegged on the national identity card (ID).
KNBS data shows that last year, Nairobi county led in the issuances of birth certificates at 152,433, followed by Kiambu and Kilifi at 67,632 and 62,352 respectively.
“Samburu County had the lowest number of birth certificates issued at 6,230, followed by Lamu County at 6,845 and Isiolo County at 9,378,” wrote the national data agency.
The reduced number of national issuances came in a year when the number of live births recorded in the country dropped 6.9 percent to 1.11 million down from 1.19 million in 2023 as stillbirths also contracted from 11,600 in 2023 to 9,864 last year.
Last year, thieves broke into the Mutomo civil registration office in Kitui county and made away with 900 birth certificates, equipment and birth registration booklets sparking fears that the vital documents could have landed in wrong hands with ulterior motives of listing illegal immigrants.
This prompted the State Department of Immigration and Citizen Services to declare the stolen certificates cancelled.
