Vietnam's Ministry of Justice has begun issuing digital birth and death certificates on a trial basis in Hanoi before issuing them nationwide in June.

The ministry began issuing digital birth certificates and death certificates in Hanoi and Ha Nam Province on April 17, the ministry's Spokesman Nguyen Quoc Hoan told a press conference earlier this week.

Template of digital forms of a birth certificate on mobile phone. Photo: Ministry of Justice

"Those who apply for a digital birth or death certificate will be issued both digital and paper versions. The digital certificates would be sent to the applicant by e-mail. The trial was conducted as part of the Ministry of Justice's efforts to synchronize data in the national database," Hoan said.

He stressed that digital certificates will make it convenient for people to board flights, as they will not have to show paper documents.

According to the Ministry of Justice, the Prime Minister has issued a directive to accelerate a project to develop the application of population data, identification, and authentication for national digital transformation in the period 2022-2025, with a vision to 2030.

The Ministry has also studied technical solutions to help people receive digital copies of birth and death certificates when they register births and deaths online.

Some public services are in the digital trial phase: birth registration, permanent residence registration, and health insurance card for children under 6 years of age; death registration, cancellation of permanent residence registration, funeral allowance, and support for funeral expenses.

The move is one of Vietnam's efforts in developing e-Government and digitalization.

On June 15, 2021, the Prime Minister issued a decision on approving the e-government development strategy towards the digital government in the 2021-2025 period, with a vision for 2030.

This was the first time Vietnam had set out the strategy of e-Government and digitalization. The country also set the target to be ranked among the top 30 countries in the world in terms of e-government and digital government in line with the United Nations ranking.