Life stages in Eritrea

Birth registration creates legal identity and supports entry into school and other services. Parents are the informants, and registration is generally free when completed within 90 days through a civil registration office or the place of birth; late registration can involve a fee and legal penalty. Reported requirements include parental identification, presence and consent, marriage evidence, an immunization card and the child's name, but forms and practice vary by region. Education is free and compulsory at the basic level. Reports describe different structures, including two years of pre-school, five years of elementary school, three years of middle school and four years of secondary school, while UNESCO summaries describe a seven-four-four structure. Rural, remote and nomadic communities face greater access and retention barriers, with adult literacy, continuing education, catch-up education and complementary basic education providing alternative routes. Adolescents can use sexual and reproductive health and life-skills services through the Ministry of Health, Youth Friendly Centers and community or rural programmes, although pregnancy, underage marriage, female genital mutilation, violence and school dropout remain serious transition risks. Historical surveys reported that 41% of women aged 20 to 24 had married or entered a union before age 18, 69% of girls and women aged 15 to 19 had undergone female genital mutilation, and the adolescent birth rate was 76 births per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19; these figures mainly come from 2008 to 2010 and do not establish current prevalence. Secondary completion and the National Secondary Leaving Certificate can lead to the Sawa Education and Training Center, reported four-to-six-month training and later National Service or other education and work routes. National Service eligibility is formally set at ages 18 to 40, while recent child-rights concerns include military training or service connected to the final secondary year and limited independent complaint safeguards. Marriage is legally set at 18 for both sexes under the Transitional Civil Code, although later civil-code exceptions and practice risks require local verification. Marriage registration is decentralized and not legally mandatory according to the reviewed evidence. Pregnancy and parenthood are supported through Ministry of Health maternal, newborn and sexual and reproductive health services, including maternity waiting homes linked to health facilities, especially in rural areas; no universal childcare or parental-benefit entitlement has been evidenced. Child protection relies on the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, district and community services, family-based care, tracing and reintegration, and alternatives such as the Asmara Child Care Center. The same ministry also supports community-based social protection, rehabilitation, psychosocial assistance, cash support and referrals for people facing poverty, disability or care needs, while the Ministry of Health provides primary care. A 2022 programme trained 4,748 community-based social-service workers and reached about 30,000 vulnerable children, including 32% children with disabilities; a 2024 report recorded 77,053 vulnerable children reached, including 23,883 children with disabilities. These programme figures do not establish a universal entitlement, and service continuity remains uneven. Older people commonly rely on family and community support. People aged 65 and over represented approximately 7% of the population in a 2010 survey, while newer healthy-ageing work includes integrated care for older people, known as ICOPE, primary-care integration and planned zoba and sub-zoba implementation. No universal old-age pension or municipal long-term-care entitlement was evidenced. Drought, floods, food insecurity, displacement, conflict, flight, detention, trafficking and family separation can interrupt registration, schooling, care and work transitions. Community workers, cash transfers, psychosocial support, referrals, family tracing and family-based alternative care form parts of the response, but no single national crisis-entry point has been identified. Death registration has no clearly evidenced legal framework, mandatory duty, standard timing, fee or certificate process in the reviewed material. Current documents, fees, service availability and regional procedures should therefore be confirmed with the responsible zoba or sub-zoba office.