The Papua New Guinea Civil and Identity Registry (PNGCIR) has initiated DASH 23 OPS, an intensive 23-day operation aimed at completing Birth and National Identification (NID) registrations across the National Capital. Running from 1 to 23 December 2025, the campaign deployed teams to 84 mobile service points in Moresby North-East, North-West, and South, ensuring that essential identity services reach communities directly and reduce reliance on traditional office queues.

The World Bank has released an updated version of its free Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) e-learning course, revised to offer a more flexible, self-paced learning experience. Hosted on the Open Learning Campus, the refreshed 13‑module program delivers essential training for professionals seeking to modernize the recording of life events.

ESCAP has released a new Stats Brief on Regional estimates of death registration completeness: 2023 Update. This Stats Brief presents updated regional and subregional estimates of death registration completeness in Asia and the Pacific for 2023, drawing on official country submissions and standardized estimation methods. Overall, death registration has improved substantially over the past five years, reflecting sustained efforts under the CRVS Decade. In 2023, an estimated 88.8 per cent of deaths in the region were registered, up from 74.3 per cent in 2018.

On 20 January 2026, the third cohort of the CRVS Applied Research Training (CART) Initiative was launched! The CART initiative is a joint program between ESCAP and the Economic Commission of Africa (ECA), which supports CRVS practitioners from registration authorities, statistical agencies, civil society and other related organizations to develop research skills and conduct and implement a independent research project with the aim of producing a publishable research paper.

ESCAP will convene another session of the Asia‑Pacific Stats Café Series on 23 February 2026, featuring discussions on Death Registration: Updated Estimates, Gender Dynamics, and Country Perspectives, on 23 February 2026The event will unpack why death registration remains among the least complete components of civil registration and vital statistics systems worldwide, despite progress in birth registration.

ESCAP is hosting a new session of its Asia‑Pacific Stats Café Series on 9 February 2026, focusing on the central role of evidence in strengthening civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems. The session will highlight how a solid evidence base enables countries to diagnose bottlenecks, design targeted interventions, and monitor the performance of their systems.

In partnership with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and Vital Strategies, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) will host the 2026 Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Research Forum from 30 March to 1 April 2026.

Building on the success of the 2023 CRVS Research Forum, which was attended by 390 virtual participants from 62 countries and territories, the 2026 CRVS Research Forum will be held as a hybrid event with both online and in-person attendance at ESCAP headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand.