A significant number of Aboriginal children have no record of birth and may face social obstacles later in life, a recent study has revealed.
According to a research paper published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, almost one in five aboriginal children born in Western Australia between 1980 and 2010 were not registered at birth.
The study found that nearly 50,000 births were recorded, but when matched with the birth registry office, 4,628 children under the age of 16 were not registered.
Furthermore, most of these children were born to teenage mothers.
"Australia is a signatory to several international conventions to ensure that all children have the right to be registered immediately after birth" Alison Gibberd, lead author of the study, said of the alarming statistics. "But an unacceptably high number of aboriginal children don't achieve this right."
Gibberd explains that parents may fail to recognise the value of birth registration, particularly if they cannot afford a certificate at the time.
"Successfully completing the birth registration process requires a reasonable level of literacy and the practical means of returning the completed paperwork," she added.
According to a report by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, these children face social disadvantages growing up. They may experience problems when enrolling in education, finding employment, opening bank accounts, buying property or when trying to obtain a passport.
Western Australia is the third largest state for Indigenous Australians, with 88,270 of its population identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, 2011 census data revealed.