Nigeria Records 5 Million Births Annually as Death Registration Falls Below 20% — NPC

Nigeria records about five million births every year, but fewer than one in five deaths are formally documented, the National Population Commission (NPC) has said.

NPC Federal Commissioner Clifford Zira disclosed the figures at an event in Yola, Adamawa State, where he raised concerns over the country’s low level of birth and death registration.

Zira said birth registration coverage currently stands at about 57 per cent nationwide, meaning millions of children are born without their births being officially recorded. Death registration is even lower, with coverage below 20 per cent.

He said the gap in vital records makes it difficult for authorities to obtain accurate population data needed for effective planning and public policy. He therefore called for sustained routine registration of births and deaths across the country.

To address the challenge, the NPC has commenced digital registration of births and deaths across Adamawa State through the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (E-CRVS) system.

The digital platform became operational across all 21 local government areas of Adamawa at the beginning of August. Zira said the initiative would strengthen civil registration while improving the quality of statistics used for public planning and resource allocation.

The commissioner said the NPC has established 4,011 functional registration centres across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas as part of efforts to close the registration gap. The E-CRVS programme builds on the national civil registration reforms launched by President Bola Tinubu, including the inauguration of the National Coordination Committee on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics.

NPC State Director in Adamawa, Jummai Hassan, expressed concern over the state’s low death-registration rate. She described the digital registration system as one of the most significant reforms in Nigeria’s civil registration system and said it could improve how vital population data is captured.