Across Asia and the Pacific, a birth certificate is more than just proof of birth. It’s a gateway to education, public and private services, and future opportunities. In many countries, it’s required multiple times during a child’s academic journey: for school enrollment, grade progression, participation in national examinations and graduation. This close link between education and birth registration has contributed significantly to improved civil registration coverage. However, it has also created unintended barriers for the most vulnerable children. 

According to the 2025 Review Report on the Asia-Pacific Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Decade by ESCAP, the region is approaching universal birth registration. In 2024, 1 in 6 children under the age of five—around 51 million—were unregistered, compared to 1 in 4, or 135 million children, in 2012. This 62% reduction over the past decade reflects strong regional commitment to achieving universal birth registration. The momentum has been fueled in part by policies linking education with civil registration, as parents increasingly recognize the necessity of a birth certificate to secure their child’s place in school.

Challenges for unregistered children

Children without birth certificates can face obstacles in accessing school, despite the fact that both birth registration and education are fundamental human rights. ESCAP’s work across the region shows that unregistered children  are more likely to have younger mothers with lower levels of education, live in rural areas or remote areas, and come from lower-income families. Registration becomes even harder when parents don’t have the documents needed for the process, especially when they lack their own documentation.

World Vision Foundation of Thailand highlights the case of a four-year-old girl born to legally employed migrant workers who could not enter kindergarten due to missing birth registration documents. Despite national laws guaranteeing free education for all children, administrative requirements delayed her access to early childhood education, revealing the gap between policy and implementation.

Similar challenges affect other migrant families. In another example from World Vision, three siblings were denied enrollment by a private school due to missing civil registration documents, despite laws guaranteeing education for all children. Even after formal complaints were lodged, weak enforcement mechanisms resulted in the children remaining out of school. 

Even when children are admitted, lack of documentation can affect later stages of schooling – from taking national examinations, to completing graduation requirements – restricting their educational and employment prospects.

Birth registration is also the foundation for obtaining national IDs and passports which are often prerequisites for higher education, vocational training, university admission, or scholarships. Without it, children face long-term barriers and a heightened risk of social exclusion.

Unintended consequences: Falsification and early enrollment

The strong link between birth certificates and education can produce unintended consequences. Strict age cutoffs for school entry disproportionately affect unregistered or late-registered children, particularly those from migrant families.

In one case in southern Thailand, a nine-year-old boy was denied admission to Grade 1 for being "too old", despite national policies allowing flexibility for over-age learners. With no birth registration documents or awareness of appeal mechanisms, the family did not challenge the decision, leaving the child permanently out of school. Such cases demonstrate how rigid application of age rules, combined with documentation gaps, can permanently exclude children from education.

In other contexts, field observations and stakeholder consultations suggest that pressures associated with school entry requirements may lead some parents to misreport a child’s age to meet eligibility criteria. While anecdotal, this practice carries serious risks. Falsifying official documents is illegal and can result in long-term legal and administrative consequences. In practice, these individuals will live their life with two different birthdays –their official one and their real one. 

Toward inclusive and accurate systems

Stronger coordination between education and civil registration authorities is crucial for closing remaining gaps. Schools can be a vital point of contact for identifying unregistered children and referring families to registration services. 

Governments can strengthen inclusion by integrating registration services into health facilities and supporting registration as part of school enrollment, organizing mobile registration campaigns, training education officials, and raising public awareness about the long-term benefits of timely birth registration.

The progress made under the Asia-Pacific Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Decade demonstrates what is possible when governments and communities work together to ensure every child’s right to identity and education. While linking birth registration to school enrollment has driven progress, this link must be inclusive and enabling, not restrictive. 

Documentation barriers that deny children an education undermine policy goals. Despite major progress, millions remain at risk. Ensuring flexible education policies, improving service delivery and strengthening collaboration between education and civil registration systems are essential to ensure no child is left behind.