30 March 2016

50,000th baby registered online

The 50,000th online birth registration has been recorded by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) bringing in a new wave of ‘digital babies’.

Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages Jeff Montgomery says these are the first New Zealanders who’ll go their entire lives dealing with government digitally.

“Since online registration went live a year ago, about 90% of parents register their baby’s birth online.

“It’s a huge success for an online service. We usually average just over 130 online birth registrations a day and hitting the 50,000 mark in the past week is exciting.

“It’s not simply about putting services online, but taking advantage of the digital environment to make it easier for our customers. This is fast becoming business as usual after the service was introduced one year ago by DIA.”

DIA are currently working on other services where parents will be able to use their digital birth registration to access services for a range of agencies digitally.

“For example, parents registering a birth online can now register their child for an IRD number by ticking a box,” says Jeff.

“Just one click and a bunch of hassles for parents disappear around applying for Working for Families Tax Credits, Paid Parental Leave, child support, KiwiSaver or setting up a bank account for their newborn.

“New Zealanders have become used to information, services and products being available online, on demand, anywhere, any time and DIA are leading in this area,” says Jeff.

Records of births have been maintained for the last 168 years. Compulsory registration of births began in 1847, and extended to Maori births in 1913.

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