The president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), Roberto Rosario, has told El Caribe that of the 80,094 children born in the Dominican Republic last year, only 32,468 were registered within the required time by their parents at the Civil Registry offices, or just 40% of births. He says that the Dominican Republic lacks a culture of declaring children’s births. A study by the JCE and UNICEF found that 11,460 children were born to non-resident foreign mothers, of whom only 13% were registered in the Book of Foreigners. “This means that just 1,460 were registered in this book,” said Rosario. A key point highlighted in the article was the fact that there are no institutional requirements that prohibit the exit of a newborn baby from a hospital or clinic without being registered at the Civil Registry.
Public hospitals in the Dominican Republic offer parents a free expedited birth registration service on the premises, but few parents are either aware or bother to register the child and leave the process for later, requiring a lengthier procedure. While public schools will accept the registration of the children in elementary without birth certificates, the document is required is required for the children to advance to high school.