Online registration of personal events such as birth, marriage, divorce, migration and death has been rising rapidly as more local governments have started using online system to register such vital information. But the online registration has yet to replace the manual process.

According to the Department of Civil Registration, a total of 360,062 personal events have been registered as of January 22 since the online registration was launched on March 25, 2015 in an effort to modernise the civil registration system. A total of 155,966 incidents were registered online in the fiscal year 2016-17.

However, the number of online registration of personal events in a year from mid-April 2016 to mid-April 2017 and fiscal year 2016-17 remains relatively low as compared to the manual registrations.

A total of 1,094,856 personal events were registered both online and manually from mid-April 2016 to mid-April 2017, according to the department. This suggests the online registration in the fiscal year 2016-17 constitutes around 14 percent of the total registration during the period.

The online registration has been rising steadily since the fiscal year 2015-16 as more local government offices have taken to the online system to register personal events.

While only 27,846 births were registered online in the fiscal year 2015-16, the number has surged by almost four times to 99,492 births until January 22 this fiscal year.

Likewise, the number of online marriage registration has jumped from 7,913 in fiscal 2015-16 to 35,185 until the first half of current fiscal year. The number of online registration of divorces has increased from 140 to 543 over that period. The online registration of migration has also swelled from 3,344 in the fiscal 2015-16 to 23,014 in the current fiscal year, while the registration of deaths has gone up from 3,344 to 23,014 over the period.

The department attributes the rise in online registration of personal events to the growing number of local governments using online system for the purpose. The number of ward offices running the online registration system has catapulted from 95 in the fiscal year 2015-16 to 1,464 as of January 22 this fiscal.

According to Sanjeet Paudel, a programmer and software developer at the department, a total of 56 municipalities and rural municipalities have started the online registration of personal events from their respective ward offices. 

Officials at the department have noted that the online registration of personal events has helped the government deliver its services more efficiently. But a substantial number of people are adamant to do away with the conventional method—manual registration of vital personal events with the local governments.

While the department does not have the exact data on registered personal events, a survey conducted by the department among 355 families in the mountain districts last year showed that only 60 percent of the people registered births, while 68 percent registered deaths between mid-April 2015 and mid-April 2016. Over the period, 35 percent registered marriages and 35 percent registered migration.