More than 1 billion people in 120 developing countries - over 15% of our world's population - have no official record of their existence. These “invisible” are the world’s most vulnerable, including millions of unregistered newborns and adults without basic rights such as healthcare, property titles or voting registration. Because they are not registered, the uncounted poor do not figure into the public policy equations that divide up development assistance funds at a global level.

The uncounted live at the margins of society — in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, the bush of Sub-Saharan Africa and the slums of Calcutta — all but invisible to mainstream society. 

“Children who are unregistered at birth… may be unable to apply for a formal job or a passport, open a bank account, get a marriage license or vote. A birth certificate may also be needed to obtain social security, family allowances, credit and a pension… On average over half of births taking place every year in the developing world (excluding China) go unregistered....”

UNICEF, The Right to a Formal Identity