Cost-Benefit Analysis of Modernising Civil Registration in Haiti: Digital Tools for Birth Registration
- The report says about 30 percent of children born in Haiti lack a birth document proving legal existence.
- It cites about 40 percent of Haitians without a document attesting birth, and says the EMMUS V survey found nearly 30 percent of children aged 0 to 4 without a birth-registration certificate.
- It uses the civil register initiated by the Haitian state in 2005 with partners including the OAS and ACDI as a counterfactual.
- At a 3 percent discount rate, benefits excluding education impacts total 29.6 million dollars, including 4.4 million dollars in avoided transport costs, 3.1 million dollars in time savings and 4.2 million dollars in government savings.
- About 2 million children aged 0 to 4 are expected to be covered over the period, including 27 percent without birth certificates.
- Without education effects, the benefit-cost ratio is 3.0 at a 3 percent discount rate, 2.1 at 5 percent and 1.3 at 12 percent.
- Including education effects, the benefit-cost ratio rises to 17.4 at 3 percent, 10.5 at 5 percent and 2.9 at 12 percent.
This Haiti Priorise cost-benefit paper by Moise Celicourt analyzes the modernization of Haiti's civil registration system, focused on digital tools for birth registration. It links missing birth certificates to legal exclusion, access to education and public-service planning, and uses the civil register launched by the Haitian state in 2005 with external partners as a counterfactual. The report estimates project costs and benefits under discount-rate scenarios, distinguishing direct benefits such as avoided transport costs, time savings and government savings from larger education-related benefits if lack of birth registration blocks schooling.
How to cite
Copenhagen Consensus Center, 2017, Cost-Benefit Analysis of Modernising Civil Registration in Haiti: Digital Tools for Birth Registration, accessed via HaitiDocs, https://www.haitidocs.org/doc/ccc-2017-modernisation-etat-civil-enregistrement