Birth certificates are going digital

Digital birth certificates will help customers establish their identity online at times most convenient to them, from anywhere and in a secure way.

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Whether a person has been the victim of identity fraud, had their house destroyed by a natural disaster or lost a passport overseas, they’ll know all too well how vital their birth certificate is to establish their identity and access services.

Time consuming process

A birth certificate establishes a person’s identity in many life events like applying for a passport, driver’s licence, pension benefit and tax file number. Or to vote, open a bank account, prove a child’s identity when enrolling in school or join a sporting team. Verifying their identity can be time consuming but in today’s digital era should take seconds.

A new convenient option 

The NSW Government, on behalf of all Australian states and territories, is creating a digital birth certificate that can be used across the country. It will soon be delivered as an app through the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. An easily accessible digital birth certificate will help a person establish their identity online at times most convenient to them, from anywhere and in a secure way. This will make it easier to register and apply for things they need, which enables the faster and simpler delivery of government services and benefits.

While the digital birth certificate won’t replace the paper version, it will give Australian born citizens another option and removes any issues of where to safely keep the paper copy. Digital birth certificates are coming soon.

“Having digital copies of identity documents will make a huge difference.”

“I am a marriage celebrant. If I could accept a digital birth certificate to sight evidence of each marrying party's date and place of birth instead of a paper copy, it would make it so much easier for me and my couples.”

Feedback from people who ordered a birth certificate

81%

found it easy to order a birth certificate.

84%

are satisfied with their experience in ordering a birth certificate.

85%

trust registration and certificate services for life events to be working in their best interests.

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About the Digital Birth Certificates data

CXS Source: NSW Government Customer Experience Survey (CXS). About the survey methodology.

Fieldwork: January to June 2022.
Questions: Thinking about your experience with the government service…

  • How easy or difficult was it to do this?
  • How satisfied or dissatisfied were you with this experience?
  • To what extent do you trust the government service to be working in your best interests?

Base: Customers who have ordered a birth certificate in the last 12 months.
Sample sizes: : n=115.
Definitions and notes:

  • Ease of service is calculated as the percentage of customers that selected ‘Very easy’ or ‘Somewhat easy’.
  • Satisfaction with service is calculated as the percentage of customers that selected ‘Very satisfied’ or ‘Somewhat satisfied’.
  • Trust in service is calculated as the percentage of customers that selected ‘Trust a great deal’ or ‘Somewhat trust’.

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