Most, but not all of us, have had our births registered. Lack of birth registration is not the same as statelessness, yet it heightens the risk of leaving children without a nationality. Given the key information birth registration provides about individuals and their links to a State, either through the parents or place of birth, not having a birth registered or a birth certificate evidencing registration can contribute to difficulties establishing these links and consequently expose them to the risk of statelessness.2 Children in this situation face severe disadvantages accessing rights and services, including school, healthcare, and social security, whilst also facing an increased risk of exploitation, such as child marriage, trafficking, forced recruitment, and child labour. . Whilst regional data suggests that Europe as a whole has high rates of birth registration,5 data analysis from the Statelessness Index demonstrates that barriers to birth registration in some countries in Europe persist, preventing universal birth registration from being realised across the region. 6 There is no standardised procedure nor regional harmonisation of birth registration. As a consequence, some children continue to be at risk of statelessness and prevented from realising their rights in Europe. 78 This briefing is part of a series of thematic briefings and summarises how the 32 countries featured in the Statelessness Index perform against international norms and good practice in their birth registration law, policy, and practice. It introduces the relationship between birth registration and the prevention of statelessness, provides an overview of norms and good practices on birth registration, and presents a state of play analysis on birth registration law, policy, and practice in Europe using the data from the Statelessness Index. It highlights groups who are disproportionately affected by A stateless person is defined in international law as someone “who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law”.3 This definition is part of customary international law and has been authoritatively interpreted by UNHCR as requiring “a mixed question of fact and law.”4 A person who meets this definition is stateless, whether or not their statelessness has been officially recognised. Refers to a situation where a person’s nationality or lack of nationality is not yet confirmed. These terms should be used with extreme caution for the shortest possible time and should always trigger a formal determination of the person’s nationality or statelessness. People who identify themselves as stateless should generally be recorded as stateless and referred to an appropriate procedure to determine their statelessness (or nationality), in line with international law. Birth registration is the official recording of a birth in the civil registry by a country’s civil registrar. It records both the incidence of the birth and its characteristics (such as the place of birth, and the parents). 7 Birth registration takes place in line with a country’s legal requirements and authenticates a person’s existence in law, providing legal proof of and information about the person’s identity, which is vital information for the acquisition of a nationality. A birth certificate is a document issued by a country’s civil registrar. It provides proof that the child has had their birth registered and is essential evidence of a child’s family ties as well as their place of birth. These are key aspects of identity and can be critical to establishing the child's nationality, as nationality is usually acquired either through the parents (jus sanguinis), the place of birth (jus soli), or a combination of the two. A birth certificate, therefore, acts as proof that the birth registration took place and of the child’s legal identity.8