The Future of Birth Certificates

In the modern age, the processing and sending of information has become quicker, more reliable, and in many ways safer.

Shortly, we will begin to document and process our vital records more efficient as well.

Around the country, states have already begun modernizing the registration of birth certificates.

It’s all still in an early stage of development.

It’s becoming clear, that our paper-based registration will soon become electronic-based.

At the moment, 2 electronic-based vital records continue to become more common:

• Electronic Birth Certificates
• Electronic Death Certificates

There is a high demand for vital records every year. Every day there are hundreds of thousands of births, deaths, and marriages.

Currently, it takes the government longer than an entire year to report statistics on births and deaths.

In the not-so-distant future, it may not take that long for you to have your child’s birth officially recorded.

The Current and Future Systems of Birth Records

In the United States, 57 jurisdictions register vital documents. These registers include:

• All 50 states
• 5 U.S. territories
• New York City
• Washington D.C.

All jurisdictions report their statistics to the National Association for Public Health Statistics (NAPHSIS).

Registries will still use paper, for the time being, to register vital records. The purpose is to make sure they are authenticated correctly with a raised seal.

The ultimate goal is to confirm all vital records with technoolgy, including birth certificates.

The goal is to certify all birth certificates with the Electronic Verification of Vital Events (EVVE).

All the advancements mean the State and Territorial Exchange of Vital Events (STEVE) will become much more efficient.

Exchanging electronic birth certificate information will need even fewer corrections.

Ultimately, EBCs will change the vital statistics automation process to make it faster and more reliable.

How This Serves National Security

Sometimes we may overlook the importance of vital records, especially birth certificates.

Birth certificates are needed as evidence of your identity to produce:

• Social security numbers
• Passports
• Driver’s licenses

ID theft and forgery are a couple of the problems associated with the current system of birth certificate registry.

Stealing the identity of someone who is already deceased is one of the primary methods. Matching a birth and death certificate is a way to catch identity theft.

With a reformed vital statistics system in place, the matching process will go quicker.

What Are Electronic Birth Certificates

Future technology will upgrade and improve a civil registration system that is overwhelmed. Civil registries in the United States register over 11 million vital records a year.

The process to register these records takes a longer than it needs to because there isn’t a widespread electronic system to help.

The Electronic birth certificate, or EBC, is the most developed technology that records births.

However, at the moment, the technology is still in its early stages.

The government is said to be interested in using blockchain technology. Access to the data on a birth certificate will become easier to locate.

Blockchain technology may appear much further down the line.

The purpose of electronic birth certificates is to replace the traditional paper-based method. EBCs will produce a record of birth and then send it electronically to an official agency.

This will not only improve how quickly it arrives to an agency. It will also improve how fast mistakes are detected.

For an electronic birth certificate system to work, it will need a few different items:

• A software program that can run on a PC
• A data dictionary
• Universal rules for information interchange

Registers and hospitals can increase productivity and the interchange of information.

The majority of states asked also noted a drop in the price of vital records, or it remained unchanged.

All 39 states that are working with an EBC system have all said it has been a positive experience.

Changes Thanks to Electronic Birth Certificates

The purpose of vital records is also subject to change in the future.

Registries for vital records may become much more involved in welfare statistics and welfare reform.

Introducing an electronic database can help welfare organizations.

It will become much easier for vital statistics to provide data to welfare and child support agencies.

Birth statistics will also reach health insurance agencies much faster as well.

This will help them to restructure plans and improve the efficiency of their coverage.

End of Sex IDs on Birth Certificates

Apart from technological changes, a political and social change may be implemented on birth certificates as well.

Sex IDs may no longer be registered on birth certificates.

The American Medical Association Board of Trustees only want a newborn’s gender recorded on certificates of live birth.

Genders may be left off of birth certificates in the future.

This change is not official, however, and may never be fully accepted across all 50 states.

However, more and more states are beginning to slowly adopt the measure.

At the moment, 10 states allow for a gender-neutral (X) recording on birth certificates.

This removes the need of having to undergo a sex change operation to change the gender on a birth certificate.