Bangladesh must urgently modernise its Birth and Death Registration Act and make registration mandatory at health facilities to safeguard citizens’ rights and strengthen public health planning, speakers said at a journalists’ workshop in the capital. The two-day workshop, titled “Birth and Death Registration in Bangladesh: Progress, Challenges and Way Forward,” was held on March 3–4 at the Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) Bhaban. Speakers noted that Bangladesh’s birth registration rate currently stands at 50 percent, while the death registration rate is 47 percent, leaving nearly half of all life events unrecorded in official systems. Under the existing law, families bear primary responsibility for registering births and deaths, while health facilities are not legally obligated to ensure registration. However, nearly two-thirds of births in Bangladesh now take place in healthcare facilities, creating what speakers described as a critical opportunity to institutionalise facility-based registration.

Source: Dhaka Tribune March 04, 2026 12:56 UTC