Date of publication:

01/07/2026

United Republic of Tanzania (the)

Do domestic laws and policies provide for every child to be registered immediately after birth – or, where necessary, through late birth registration – and to be issued a birth certificate?

ANALYSIS

Assessment by population

Refugees
Asylum-seekers
Stateless persons
Analysis

In Tanzania, the legal framework mandates the registration of births, aiming to ensure that every child is officially recognized from birth. The primary legislation governing this process is the Births and Deaths Registration Act, which outlines the responsibilities and procedures for registering births across the country.​

    LAW & POLICY

    Related provisions of domestic law or policy

    Births and Deaths Registration Act

    Legal provision

    Section 11 - Duty to register births

    In the case of every child born alive after the commencement of this Act, the registration of whose birth is compulsory, it shall be the duty of the father and mother, and, in default of the father and mother, of the occupier of the house in which to his knowledge such child is born, and of each person present at the birth, and of the person having charge of such child, to register the birth within three months of the birth.

    Section 26 - Compulsory registration of births

    The registration of the birth of a child shall be compulsory if either one or both parents are of European or American origin or descent or, in the case of a child born out of wedlock and not recognized by its father, if the mother is of European or American origin or descent.

    Section 28 - Extension of compulsory registration

    The Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, extend, from a date to be named in the order, the provisions of this Act relating to the compulsory registration of births and deaths to all persons in Tanzania of any particular race, class, tribe, or other group, or to all or some of the inhabitants of any particular town, district, or other area, and from and after the said date the registration of births and deaths shall, in such cases, be compulsory instead of being optional.