Photo : Collected

DHAKA, Oct 6, 2025 (BSS) – Experts today stressed the need to amend the Birth and Death Registration Act, 2004, to make hospitals and healthcare institutions legally responsible for registration, saying such reform is crucial to ensure that every birth and death is recorded and to accelerate progress toward universal registration. 

“Only 50 percent of births and 47 percent of deaths are currently registered in Bangladesh, compared to global averages of 77 percent and 74 percent respectively. While other South Asian countries like the Maldives and Sri Lanka have already achieved near-universal registration, Bangladesh remains far behind,” said the experts.

They came up with the observations at a webinar titled “Birth and Death Registration in Bangladesh: Progress, Challenges, and the Way Forward”, organized by PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) marking the  National Birth and Death Registration Day 2025 with support from the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI).

Experts said that assigning hospitals and healthcare providers the legal duty of registration would bring about rapid progress, as nearly 67 percent of children, born under healthcare supervision could be automatically registered. Ensuring death registration, they added, would also help protect inheritance rights, social security, and women’s rights.

They further recommended waiving correction fees for registration errors within 45 days of issuance and making it mandatory for the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) to use registration data to compile vital statistics.

Speaking at the event, Muhammad Ruhul Quddus, GHAI Bangladesh Country Lead, said that reforming the law to empower healthcare institutions with registration authority could enable Bangladesh to achieve universal coverage by 2030, helping meet SDG target 16.9 – legal identity for all, including birth registration.

The webinar was chaired by PROGGA Executive Director ABM Zubayer, and moderated by the organization’s coordinator Mashiat Abedin, who also delivered the keynote presentation. Sajjadur Rahman, Deputy Editor of The Business Standard, joined the discussion as a panellist.