Newborns to Receive Digital Birth Certificates Automatically Under New Government System

The government has launched the digitalisation of population administration services for newborns through the integration of the Health Ministry’s SATUSEHAT application with the Home Affairs Ministry’s Population Administration Information System (SIAK).

Through this integration, parents no longer need to go through a lengthy process to obtain a child’s birth certificate. Birth data from health facilities can be directly connected to the system of the Directorate General of Population and Civil Registration (Dukcapil).

The service launch took place at Pasar Minggu Community Health Centre in South Jakarta on Tuesday (11/8/2026), involving several ministries and agencies, including the Health Ministry, Home Affairs Ministry, Ministry of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform, BPJS Kesehatan, Statistics Indonesia (BPS), and the Government Digital Transformation Acceleration Committee. The SATUSEHAT and SIAK integration is designed to make the birth registration process simpler. Until now, processing birth documents has still required considerable time and a fairly lengthy procedure.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin noted that around 4.8 million children are born in Indonesia each year, or about 13,000 babies per day. With the new system, he said, a baby’s population documents can be processed digitally immediately after the birth is recorded.

“So that when a mother gives birth, those children—around 4.8 million a year or 13,000 per day—can have their birth certificates, including their family cards and mother-child cards, issued digitally right away,” Budi said at a press conference after the launch.

The documents can later be printed directly or sent digitally to the parents. Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian explained that the integration is possible because Dukcapil maintains a population database that is updated daily.

Data changes ranging from births and deaths to address changes enter the Dukcapil system from all 514 regencies and cities. According to Tito, 97.8% of Indonesia’s roughly 290 million residents also have biometric records, including facial recognition, fingerprints, and retina scans.

Dukcapil data has so far been utilised through more than 7,000 partnerships, including for government services, banking, and financial services. The integration with SATUSEHAT then allows birth data from health facilities to be directly connected to Dukcapil.

“Every child born is immediately given a birth certificate. I can say it is very possible and very much supported,” Tito said.

Tito said the system not only cuts bureaucracy but can also close loopholes for illegal levies in the processing of population documents.

“The public doesn’t have to go back and forth to process a birth certificate. Secondly, it can cut out illegal fees,” he said.

As soon as a baby is born at a health facility, the birth certificate can be issued directly through the connected system. The digital document can be printed at the health facility or sent via email or WhatsApp to the parents.

What if a baby is born at home or outside a hospital or health facility?

The government has also prepared a mechanism for babies born outside hospitals or community health centres, including home births. Tito said he will issue a circular to all village heads so that every birth outside a health facility is still reported.

Village heads together with parents can report the birth to the local community health centre or directly to Dukcapil so that a birth certificate can still be issued. The circular will also cover death reporting. The government considers that there are still deaths of residents that go unrecorded because bodies are buried immediately without being reported in the population administration system.

“Later I will ask in that circular to also report the death data of family members, because the one who knows best on the front line is the village head,” Tito said.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Government Digital Transformation Acceleration Committee Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that government data integration is part of the President’s directive to accelerate the digitalisation of public services. According to him, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) also makes data processing faster and more accurate.

“After we used AI, the process became much faster and much more accurate,” he said.

The government digitalisation programme is currently in a pilot phase in 243 regions out of a total of 514 regencies and cities. The government is targeting a wider implementation or rollout in October 2026.