NMICS 2010 Report - Central Bureau of Statistics

X. Child ProtectionBirth registrationThe International Convention on the Rights of the Child states that every child has the right to aname and a nationality and the right to protection from being deprived of his or her identity. Birthregistration is a fundamental means of securing these rights for children. One WFFC goal is todevelop systems that ensure the registration of every child at or shortly after birth and fulfil his orher right to acquire a name and a nationality, in accordance with national laws and relevantinternational instruments. The indicator for this goal is the percentage of children aged less than fiveyears whose birth is registered.Table CP.1 shows that 42 percent of children aged less than five years in the MFWR were birthregistered. There was little variation by region or gender. Subregionally, three quarters (76 percent)of children in Mid-Western Mountains were registered compared to one quarter (27 percent) in theMid-Western Hills. High birth registration in the Mid-Western Mountains can be attributed to thechild grant scheme initiated by the government in the Karnali Zone in 2010 that requires birthregistration in order to be eligible for the scheme. Late registration is common, as only 18 percent ofchildren aged 0–11 months were registered compared to 63 percent of children aged 48–59 months.Birth registration was highest among children whose mother had secondary education (47 percent)and lowest among children whose mother had primary education (36 percent); however, 41 percentof children whose mother have no education were registered, possibly as a result of the child grantscheme operating in the Karnali Zone. Birth registration is positively correlated with wealth indexquintiles. Children from the richest quintile (53 percent) were more likely to be registered than theircounterparts, with only 33 percent of children from the poorest quintile being registered.143