Birth registration a fundamental right

The newborn son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made global news again this month, with the public release of his birth certificate. Even with his noble lineage, Prince George's birth was required to be officially registered in the same way as any of the roughly 800,000 births in the United Kingdom every year.

The birth certificate will give the prince legal proof of his name, birthplace and parentage - fundamental rights often taken for granted by those who enjoy them.

This isn't the case, however, for an estimated 220 million children below the age of 5 around the world. In the Asia-Pacific region, for instance, only 44 percent of children below 5 years are registered. In some South Asian countries birth registration rates are less than 10 percent, and in South Asia as a whole, only one-third of all births have been officially registered.