Universal and timely birth registration is a fundamental human right and a cornerstone of good governance. For Fiji, it secures every citizen’s legal identity and access to essential services such as education, healthcare, and social protection. Despite progress, analysis of national Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) data revealed persistent gender and geographic inequities in on-time birth registration, particularly in rural, maritime, and socio-economically disadvantaged communities.
In 2025, the Fiji Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the Fiji Ministry of Justice, through the Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM) Office, the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS), and the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs—with support from Vital Strategies under the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative Global Grants Programme (GGP)—undertook a multi-staged project to identify and address these gender inequities.
Project Objectives
The project aimed to generate evidence and practical solutions to improve gender-equitable, on-time birth registration across Fiji through four sequential stages:
- Data Standardisation: Standardise “place of birth” and “place of birth registration” fields to allow geographic analysis.
- Identification of Priority Areas: Analyse ten years of national data (2015–2024) to identify civil registry offices with the greatest delays in on-time birth registration.
- Stakeholder Consultation: Understand gender-specific and structural barriers through engagement with civil registrars and CRVS partners.
- Targeted Outreach and Awareness: Implement birth registration awareness campaigns and mobile registration activities in identified priority areas.
