Abstract
Background: Promoting birth certification is instrumental to achieving target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals: legal identity for all by 2030. However, limited research has investigated the determinants of birth certification of children in the sub-Saharan African context. This study analyzes the socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with the birth certification of children under-five years in Nigeria.
Methods: The study employed three rounds of the Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey involving 79487 children (0-4 years) in Nigeria. Birth certification was defined as whether a parent/caregiver had a child’s birth certificate at the time of the interview. Ordinary least squares and multilevel logistic regression models established the relationships between the socioeconomic and demographic factors and birth certification.
Results: Children under-five years who had a skilled attendant at birth, at least one vaccination, and maternal access to prenatal visits had about 25.6%, 60.5% and 35.0% higher odds of having their births certified. Children born to more educated mothers and fathers had 1.023 and 1.012 times the odds of birth certification. Children from average and rich households also had 13.2% and 34.2% higher odds of birth certification, respectively. Conversely, child age, higher birth order, longer birth intervals, polygyny, having at least two dead siblings, father being employed in a low skilled job, living far from a registration center and in a poor community are risk factors for birth certification. Maternal age at birth and paternal has non-linear, albeit weak effects on birth certification. Being large at birth, bank account ownership were also significant predictors of birth certification. Mixed effects were noted for religion, ethnicity and region. Finally, no significant effects were noted for gender, maternal occupation and rural residence.
Conclusions: The findings identify several socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with birth certification suggesting possible risks with improving birth certification in Nigeria. Access to health care and higher socioeconomic backgrounds are significant protectors of and distance to registration centers as obstacles to birth certification for children in Nigeria. Public policy strategies should encourage the use of health care services and also increase the number of registration centers in Nigeria.
Socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with caesarean section delivery in Southern Ghana: evidence from INDEPTH Network member site
