(Newsletter: CRVS Insight January 2020)

Before diving into this month's stories, we want to wish all of our readers a Happy New Year from the CRVS team in ESCAP's Statistics Division. As we begin 2020, we want to take this moment and reflect upon some achievements. Overall, 2019 was a great year when many countries and development partners worked hard to improve CRVS in Asia and the Pacific. Some of our favorite stories highlighting the progress being made to strengthen and improve national systems are included below.

1. First, we were excited to read the recent UNICEF report on birth registration highlighting great progress in birth registration across the world, and in particular, in South Asia.

2. Second, we watched as the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform in Pakistan undertook a sweeping legal review of their existing laws at the national and provincial levels. The review focused on the review of pre- and post-independence CRVS laws, concentrating on the legislation for registration of births, deaths, marriages and divorces; all with an eye toward crafting a universal CRVS legal framework.

3. Third, we welcomed the completion and publication of Papua New Guinea's comprehensive CRVS system assessment and the subsequent development of their National Plan of Action for 2020-2021.

4. And fourth, we celebrated alongside our colleagues when UNHCR announced that Kyrgyzstan was being recognized as the first nation to successfully eliminate all known cases of statelessness!

Finally, we are very happy to announce that as of this writing, 31 countries have submitted responses to the midterm questionnaires. As you know, the aggregated and anonymized information will form the basis of a midterm regional report and be used to inform the Second Ministerial Conference in October 2020.

To continue reading about progress throughout the CRVS Decade (2015-2024) please stay tuned to our Insight newsletter and keep visiting www.getinthepicture.org.