Law reform essential to make birth and death registration universal: experts | News

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...