The objective of the Act is to achieve the following:

• Prescribing rules for the registration of children born in Maldives and children born to Maldivian citizens outside Maldives.
• Prescribing rules for obtaining birth certificates for children born in Maldives.
• Prescribing rules for issuing Maldivian National Identity numbers and Maldivian National Identity cards to Maldivian citizens.
• Prescribing the procedures for proving the death of individuals in the Maldives.
• Determination of rules for registration of deaths of Maldivians in Maldives and abroad.

Birth Registration

With the birth of every child in the Maldives and every child born to a Maldivian citizen outside the Maldives, the child’s parents are obligated to register the birth of that child in accordance with the Act. In the absence of the child’s parents, the duty is to be performed by the child’s guardian. 

In order to register the child’s birth, the application has to be submitted within seven days of the birth to the city council or the island where the child was born. If children born in the Maldives are not registered within seven days of birth, the parents, depending on the reason, will be subject to a fine not exceeding MVR 10,000.

Where a child is born to a citizen outside the country, the application to register the birth of the child in the country of birth must be made under the prescribed laws relating to the registration of births, and an official document must be obtained from that country. Where a child born abroad is born to a resident of the Maldives, the application for registration of birth is to be submitted within 7 days from the date the child is brought to the Maldives. The mother, father, or guardian of a child born abroad must apply for registration of the child within six months of the child’s registration in the country of birth.

Birth Certificate and Maldivian National Identity Cards

An application should be made to make the birth certificate of every child born in Maldives or outside Maldives within six months from the date of that child’s birth. Upon registration of the birth of every child born to a Maldivian citizen in Maldives and abroad under the Act, the state shall assign a unique Maldivian Identity number to that child and issue an identity card. 

Death Registration

The rules to be followed in registering deaths in the Maldives shall be prescribed in the Regulation that will be made under the Act. The heirs of persons who die outside the Maldives shall apply for registration in the Maldives in accordance with the Regulation that will be made under the Act.