All about Birth Certificates
Birth Certificates are one of the important vital statistics data sources of a country. They are maintained to keep track of numbers of newborns in the country in a particular year. Birth Certificates are useful official documents required for applying for a passport or driving license, travel visas, Social Security Number and many other statutory and legal purposes including education, medical securities, tax exemptions, employment and retirement benefits and insurance.
Birth certificates are of national importance too. These records are one of the fundamental indicators of the nation’s health and overall socio-economic development of the country. In addition to the census data, researchers, social scientists and policy makers use birth certificates as authentic source of information to understand birth and mortality-related issues and to construct life tables or life expectancy.
Birth certificates are also considered as primary medical records to assess infant and mothers health aspects including prenatal care provisions, medical risk factors, risk factors related to Pregnancy, lifestyle risk factors, method of delivery, complications of labor and delivery and infant information.
A certified birth certificate contains all valuable information including the name of the newborn, date, time and place of birth, birth-weight, type of delivery and names and citizenship of parents, attending physician, name and signature of the registrar, etc. The certificate is issued by the hospital authority after the birth of the baby or by the local vital statistics agency. Nowadays, Birth Certificates can be ordered online. Fill in the registration forms following instructions and submit required documents and you can get a certified birth certificate easily.
A certified copy of a Birth Certificate may be issued in two formats- a computer-printed extract or a photocopy of the original record. You can use either of these formats as the proof of citizenship, nationality or age while applying for a passport or SIN or travel visas. In normal circumstances, natural parents or legal guardians or the grandparents can apply for the birth registration on behalf of the child. Individuals above 18 years of age are also permitted to apply for their own birth certificates.
A certified Birth Certificate protects individual from identity theft. It provides rights to vote, marry and own property and also help an individual to receive basic facilities and services like food, health and education.
