Pacific Community 36d ago

The Cook Islands has rolled out a digital system to record births, deaths, marriages and other life events, replacing paper-based processes with a world-first implementation of open-source civil registration software. Civil registration refers to the recording of life events such as births, adoptions, marriages, name changes and deaths, and their use in issuing identity documents and producing official statistics. While largely invisible day to day, these systems underpin access to services including education, healthcare and banking, as well as the right to vote. The system is built on OpenCRVS, an open-source civil registration platform developed as a digital public good. Its source code is publicly available, allowing governments to adapt it to local contexts and retain control over their information systems. The work was supported technically by SPC and funded through Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Data for Health Initiative.