The High Cost of Legal Identity in Africa

Abstract

After half a century of stagnation, civil registration in Africa has shown hesitant signs of progress since the turn of the century. Yet, there are still countries where registration rates have declined, which is uncommon in any other part of the world. Birth registration in Africa still covers less than one in two births. At the same time hi-tech national ID-systems are launched and elections are conducted using sophisticated technology at considerable cost. The “African way” of sequencing the development of civil registration and identification systems is unorthodox. Industrialized countries have followed a different pathway to reach universal coverage, reliability, efficiency and cost-­effectiveness of their civil identity systems. This African departure from the proven road-map raises a series of important questions. This paper focuses on the viability and the cost of this “African pathway”, labeled by some as “leapfrogging" and “closing the identity gap”. South Africa is shown as an example that by all accounts has “leapfrogged” and “closed the "identity gap”, while taking the proven, orthodox roadway. Emulating this best practice example would save the continent a multiple of the costs of fixing civil registration.