4 Barriers and disparities Families often face steep barriers to birth registration, including long distances to the nearest registration facility, lack of knowledge about how to register a child, and high fees required for registering a birth or obtaining a birth certificate. Moreover, traditional customs and practices may not encourage or emphasize formal birth registration processes. And institutional procedures sometimes treat 24 Birth Registration for Every Child by 2030: Are we on track? children from certain ethnic or religious groups differently, or impose restrictions – whether formally by law or informally in practice – on a mother’s ability to register her child without the father’s involvement. Such barriers result in disparities in birth registration levels among children of different social, economic and cultural backgrounds.