Tanzania pushes CRVS-ID integration as birth registration becomes a DPI layer

Tanzania is stepping up efforts to link its civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system with the national identity database, joining a growing number of countries treating birth registration as the first layer of digital public infrastructure (DPI) and lifelong digital identity.

The East African country says it is now stepping up efforts to facilitate issuance of the Jamii Namba to children, a personal identification number assigned to citizens from birth through civil registration. Tanzania’s Registration, Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA) will now be linked with the National Identification Authority (NIDA). The government announced in January that a legal framework for this was being prepared.

Tanzania’s initiative comes as many nations in Africa and around the world are increasingly making intentional efforts to ensure that birth registration is not just an administrative process, but a foundational component of DPI and the first layer of a lifelong digital identity cycle.

Recently, Tanzanian authorities announced progress in birth registration, with a resolve to reach universal birth registration by 2030, in line with target 16.9 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), as reported by The Guardian Tanzania.

Speaking recently at an event to mark the 9th Africa Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Day, the country’s Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Dr. Juma Homera, disclosed that birth registration reached 68 percent in 2025, up from the 55 percent recorded in 2020.

According to Homera, the CRVS-national ID linkage will not just move birth registration figures higher, it will also establish a permanent legal identity chain that allows citizens to access a wide range of services with ease. He said this idea is in line with the country’s National Development Vision 2050.

Over 22 million Tanzanians have a National Identification Number (NIN) as of April, and that is contributing significantly to streamline access to public services, according to a recent analysis by FSDTanzania, which notes how the expanding identity coverage is facilitating aspects like financial inclusion and digital government.

Sustained advocacy for CRVS-ID linkage

CRVS-ID linkage is one of the major points of advocacy by UNICEF and other UN agencies championing the cause for universal legal identity. In fact, the UN Legal Identity Agenda (UNLIA) has been pushing for this system which it describes as a “holistic and lifecycle-oriented approach,” where a new legal identity is embedded into an existing ID system upon birth registration and is subsequently retired through death registration when the individual dies.

At the ID4Africa AGM in May, it was disclosed that a dedicated committee through an initiative involving UNICEF was working to introduce a global blueprint for the facilitation of this process which is deemed crucial in accelerating the pace of legal identity coverage around the world.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has also argued that when CRVS and national ID databases are not linked, discrepancies can emerge between government systems and potentially affect access to services, and can also lead to inaccurate planning and allocation of public resources.

A global shift

Tanzania is far from alone. Bhutan, Namibia, Rwanda, Thailand, Kenya and Colombia have all implemented or are developing versions of a lifecycle identity model in which birth registration feeds directly into a national population register rather than ending with a birth certificate, according to UNICEF case studies published in 2023.

Another good example is the island nation of Cabo Verde, where a series of reforms, including a new legislative framework, led to a dramatic increase in birth registration, with 99 percent birth registration as of last year.

A recent Vital Strategies analysis which explores civil registration efforts in Rwanda and Thailand argues that birth and death registration are the veritable anchor for DPI, with birth registration jumping from 63 to 94 percent in Rwanda following digitization and the linking of children’s health data to identity records.

Article Topics

birth registration  |  CRVS  |  digital identity  |  digital public infrastructure  |  identity management  |  legal identity  |  SDG 16.9  |  Tanzania