Benin
A well developed and functioning civil registration system ensures the registration of all vital events including births, marriages and deaths and issues relevant certificates as proof of such registration. Civil registration promotes efficient government planning, effective use of resources and aid, and more accurate monitoring of progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Birth Registration
| Legal framework for birth registration | Law No. 2002-07 – Code of Persons and the Family (24 August 2004)
Law No. 2015-08 – Children’s Act in the Republic of Benin (8 December 2015) |
| Official authorities in charge of registering births | Ministry of Interior: provides administrative and technical supervision for the central office of civil registration
Communes (municipalities): facilitate registration and record keeping Ministry of Health (health settings): declaration |
| Organizational structure | Decentralized |
| Is there a legal obligation to register the birth of a child? | Yes |
| Is an official birth certificate issued as a result of birth registration? | Yes, immediately and free of charge (Children’s Act, article 38) |
| Legal informant to register a birth | Father or mother, Ascendant or close relative, Doctor, Midwife, Matron, Village chief, Any other person who attended the birth (Children’s Act, article 40). |
| Time allowed for registration | Every birth shall be declared to the registrar of the place of birth within 21 days; if the deadline expires on a holiday, the return will be validly received on the next business day (Children’s Act, article 30). |
| Fee for birth registration | No |
| Can the fee be increased or waived? | No |
| Fee for birth certificate | No |
| Penalty for late registration | Yes and additional costs of filing the case and court costs (Children’s Act, articles 333–336). |
| Other official fees involved in the birth registration process | No |
| Requirements or fees specific to children who are eligible for citizenship but were born outside the country | Yes, any Beninese child born abroad must be declared and registered in the civil registers of the diplomatic and consular representations of Benin in the country of birth; there is no specific fee (Code of Persons and the Family, articles 45 and 46). |
| Requirements or fees specific to children whose parents are foreign nationals | No |
| Requirements for birth registration | Certificate of birth, Identification of the mother and the father, Child’s name |
| Information collected | Regarding the child: Name, Sex, Date of birth, Date of registration, Place of occurrence of the birth, Place of registration,
Regarding the mother of the child:Date of birth or age , Place of usual residence, Occupation Regarding the father of the child: Date of birth or age, Place of usual residence, Occupation Regarding the declarant of the birth (if not the father or the mother): Name, Age, Occupation, Usual residence |
| Processing | Manually (on paper);
All vital events are directly recorded on standardized forms, their fill fields are free and they are filled manually in cursive writing, which prohibits their subsequent exploitation by optical character recognition. Some civil registration centres in the capital that have received computers enter the information electronically, using software designed for this purpose. |
| Place of registration | Districts (arrondissements) and communes for registration and record keeping (place of birth)
Outside the country: embassies and consulates |
| A birth certificate is required for: | Identification, Education, Voting, Legal marriage, Access to financial and banking services, Identity card, Passport, Certificate of nationality |
| Process for establishing vital statistics on births | The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Analysis (INSAE) initiated operations for collecting annual vital statistics from administrative divisions in 2007 – via networks of data transfer on paper, at a frequency of every 3 months, and complemented by awareness and training to build capacities. |
Data sources: Information on civil registration systems was compiled over a period from December 2016 to November 2017 using the existing relevant legal frameworks and in consultation with CRVS experts, officials within the relevant national institutions, and UNICEF country offices. All reasonable precautions have been taken by UNICEF to verify this country profile; updates will be made to reflect changes in policy and implementation and/or new information.
Marriage Registration
| Legal framework for marriage registration | Law No. 2002-07 – Code of Persons and the Family (24 August 2004) |
| Official authorities in charge of registering a marriage | Ministry of Interior: provides administrative and technical supervision for the central office of civil registration
Communes (municipalities): facilitates registration and record keeping |
| Organizational structure | Decentralized |
| Legal age for marriage | 18 years for both sexes |
| Is there a legal obligation to register marriages? | No |
| Is an official marriage certificate issued as a result of marriage registration? | Yes, immediately |
| Legal informant to register a marriage | Only one of the spouses during the declaration of marriage |
| Time allowed for registration | The signing of the marriage register by the spouses, witnesses and registrar during the marriage itself is equivalent to registration. |
| Fee for marriage registration | No |
| Can the fee be increased or waived? | No |
| Fee for marriage certificate | No |
| Penalty for late registration | No |
| Other official fees involved in the marriage registration process | No |
| Additional registration requirements or fees if one spouse was born outside the country or has dual citizenship | No |
| Requirements for marriage registration | Each of the future spouses must provide personally to the civil registrar competent to proceed with the celebration of the marriage:
– A copy of his or her birth certificate dating from less than 3 months issued for the purpose of the marriage; – A copy of the acts granting exemptions in the cases provided for by law; – A medical certificate attesting that the premarital examinations have been carried out by the future spouses and the results have been communicated to them (Code of Persons and the Family, article 127). The future spouses present themselves personally before the civil registrar on the day chosen by them and at the time determined by the registrar; each spouse is assisted by a major witness, whether parent or not. However, where the personal appearance of either of the prospective spouses is not possible, the marriage may be celebrated by proxy; in this case, the future spouse who cannot appear personally can be represented by an agent. If one of the prospective spouses is a minor, he or she must provide proof of consent to the marriage given by the person exercising parental authority in respect of the marriage or of the judicial authorization in lieu thereof (article 136). |
| Information collected | Regarding the spouses: Date of birth or age of bride, Place of usual residence of bride, Date of birth or age of groom, Place of usual residence of groom, Occupation of spouses
Regarding the marriage: Date of occurrence, Date of registration, Place of occurrence, Place of registration |
| Processing | Manually (on paper);
All vital events are directly recorded on non-standardized forms, their fill fields are free and they are filled manually in cursive writing, which prohibits their subsequent exploitation by optical character recognition. Some civil registration centres in the capital that have received computers enter the information electronically, using software designed for this purpose. |
| Place of registration | Communes and arrondissements, Place of occurrence of the marriage |
| A marriage certificate is required for: | Inheritance |
| Process for establishing vital statistics on marriage | The law stipulates that, under penalty of law, all municipalities provide the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Analysis (INSAE) with quarterly, detailed statistics on vital events registered. |
Data sources: Information on civil registration systems was compiled over a period from December 2016 to November 2017 using the existing relevant legal frameworks and in consultation with CRVS experts, officials within the relevant national institutions, and UNICEF country offices. All reasonable precautions have been taken by UNICEF to verify this country profile; updates will be made to reflect changes in policy and implementation and/or new information.
Death Registration
| Legal framework for death registration | Law No. 2002-07 – Code of Persons and the Family (24 August 2004) |
| Official authorities in charge of registering a death | Ministry of Interior: provides administrative and technical supervision for the central office of civil registration
Communes (municipalities): facilitates registration and record keeping |
| Organizational structure | Decentralized |
| Is there a legal obligation to register deaths? | Yes (Code of Persons and the Family, article 75) |
| Is an official death certificate issued as a result of death registration? | Yes, immediately and free of charge (Code of Persons and the Family, article 38) |
| Legal informant to register a death | One of the parents of the deceased, Anyone else having the necessary information |
| Time allowed for registration | 10 days, excluding the day of death |
| Fee for death registration | No |
| Can the fee be increased or waived? | No |
| Fee for death certificate | No |
| Penalty for late registration | No |
| Other official fees involved in the death registration process | No |
| Registration requirements or fees specific for the deaths of people who were residents in the country and also of foreign nationality | No |
| Requirements for death registration | Medical death certificate, Identity card |
| Information collected | Regarding the deceased: Name, Sex, Date of birth or age, Place of usual residence, Place of usual residence of the mother for deaths under 1 year of age
Regarding the death: Date of death, Date of registration, Place of occurrence, Place of registration, Cause of death, Certifier, Type of place of occurrence (hospital, home, etc.), |
| Information collected in case of fetal death | The birth is declared, even if the child died before the expiration of the deadline for the drafting of the Code, mentioning only that it has been stated that a child was without life (not whether the child lived at any point); the date of death is declared in the register of deaths and not in that of births (Code of Persons and the Family, article 62). |
| Processing | Manually (on paper);
All vital events are directly recorded on standardized forms, their fill fields are free and they are filled manually in cursive writing, which prohibits their subsequent exploitation by optical character recognition. Some civil registration centres in the capital that have received computers enter the information electronically, using software designed for this purpose. |
| Place of registration | Place of occurrence of the death, Communes and arrondissements (registration and record keeping) |
| A death certificate is required for: | Burial, Legacy, Obtaining social assistance |
| Process for establishing vital statistics on deaths | The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Analysis (INSAE) initiated operations for collecting annual vital statistics from administrative divisions in 2007 – via networks of data transfer on paper, at a frequency of every 3 months, and complemented by awareness and training to build capacities. |
Data sources: Information on civil registration systems was compiled over a period from December 2016 to November 2017 using the existing relevant legal frameworks and in consultation with CRVS experts, officials within the relevant national institutions, and UNICEF country offices. All reasonable precautions have been taken by UNICEF to verify this country profile; updates will be made to reflect changes in policy and implementation and/or new information.