How to Find Free Public Birth Records

Co-authored by Clinton M. Sandvick, JD, PhD

Last Updated: May 6, 2021 References

If you are searching for a deceased ancestor or doing other historical research, a number of birth records for the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland are online for free, usually in transcript form. On some pay sites in the U.S., you can sign up for a free trial that will allow you to see actual images of birth certificates. However, if you want to find a birth record for someone still living, or if you are looking for an official copy, you will have to pay.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Finding Birth Records in the U.S.

1
Know that access to birth records of living people are typically limited to immediate family members. If you are looking for the records of someone born in the last 75 years, you will usually need to be related to them, and the records will typically not be available for free. You can acquire them through your state or local registry.
2
Discover the person's year of birth and the local jurisdiction where they were born. Birth records are often held at the county level, so you will need to know at least the state and preferably the local jurisdiction to recover them. If you do not already know when and where your relative was born, then you can try using census records or ancestry websites to discover this information.
- Check the online index of census records for the years 1790-1940. These can show you if the person's name appears in the census. If so, you can look up their information at the National Archives or one of the 14 regional archives. Census records are confidential for 72 years, so the 1940 census is the latest one that can be searched.^{[1]
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- Ancestry.com has digitized many of the federal census records so that they may be searched online. You can perform this search for free from any National Archives facility. You can also sign up for a 14-day free trial, but be sure to cancel before the trial period is up, or you will be charged the monthly membership rate of $19.99.^{[2]
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- Use newspapers, many of which are now searchable online. If you know where the person you are searching for lived and approximately when they died, obituaries can be a useful place to find birth information.
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3
Gather additional information as needed. The more information you have, the better your chances of finding a birth certificate for the person you are searching for. If you apply for records from a state, in particular, you will usually need:
- Full name of the father, if listed on the birth certificate
- Full maiden name of the mother, if listed on the birth certificate
- City of birth
- Full name
4
Use an online service to get records for free. There are many online services that allow you to search digitized birth records. Some like familysearch.org let you look through databases for free. In most cases, you cannot see the actual certificates, but you can view the information from them. There are also fee-based services like archives.com and ancestry.com, which offer free trials during which you can access the information you desire.
- Be aware that records are confidential for all but immediate family records for 75 or more years after the birth date. In addition, most states did not begin recording birth records until after 1880 (usually around 1905), so the amount of records which are in the public domain is limited.
- Local counties or cities may sometimes have older records that have been digitized.
- If using a paid site, be sure to cancel your membership before your trial is up to avoid being charged.
5
Contact your state and pay for the record you are seeking if a free online search fails. You can look up the appropriate vital records department on the National Center for Health Statistics website, which has free information on how to obtain birth records in each of the U.S. states.
6
Apply online, by mail, or in person to obtain birth records. For most states, you can apply online for birth records, by mail, or in person at a central state facility or in the county where the person was born. However, no states or territories provide free records. The cost ranges from $3 to $30.^{[3]
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Main public health institute for the US, run by the Dept. of Health and Human Services
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Finding Birth Records in England and Wales

1
Gather the necessary information. To find results for the person you are looking for you will need their name, approximate birth year, and district or county of birth. In addition, it helps to know their mother's surname. To search for birth records with the General Records Office, it is best to have a GRO index number, which you can search for online at freebmd.org or via microfiche at:^{[4]
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- The Library of Birmingham
- Bridgend Local and Family History Centre
- City of Westminster Archives Centre
- Manchester Central Library
- Newcastle City Library
- Plymouth Central Library
- The British Library
2
Consult obituaries. Many newspapers can now be searched online, and those that cannot are usually available at public or research libraries. Obituaries typically have information on the place and date of birth, as well as the mother's surname.
3
Explore a free online site like freebmd.org. Freebmd.org contains free information taken from national birth records, census data, and parish records. You can search with limited information, but for best results you will need at least a surname, approximate year of birth, and district or county of birth.^{[5]
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4
Try a pay site. Sites like ancestry.co.uk or rootsuk.com provide images of historical birth records and other documents for a fee. Memberships in the UK start at 13.99 pounds a month.^{[6]
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5
Contact the General Records Office to order an official record if you cannot find one online for free. The office has records for England and Wales dating back to 1837, but they cost 9.25 pounds to order.^{[7]
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Official UK government website
Official website for the public sector of the UK government
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Obtaining Birth Records in Scotland, Northern Ireland, or Ireland

1
Gather the necessary information. Because birth records in Scotland and Ireland were kept by local parishes until recently, it will help if you know the religious denomination of the person whose records you are looking for. In addition, you should try to learn:^{[8]
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- The person's full name
- The name of their parents, spouse, and next of kin
- The approximate date of their birth
- Place of birth
2
Consult obituaries. Many newspapers can now be searched online, and those that cannot are usually available at public or research libraries. Obituaries typically have information on the place and date of birth, as well as the mother's surname. Regional newspapers are typically best, unless the person you are searching for was very well-known.
3
Search online for free with familysearch.org. You can perform a search by location, using the map at the bottom of the search page. Enter as much information as you know on the form. You can view transcribed records for free, though if there is a picture of the document, you will have to visit a family research center to see it. The site can direct you to the nearest center.
4
Try a pay online site if you don't find what your looking for at familysearch.org. In addition to sites like ancestry.co.uk or rootsuk.com, there are sites for both Ireland and Scotland that will search a variety of records for you.
- scotlandspeople.gov.uk – Contains information from parish registers dating to the 16th century, Catholic registers dating to the 18th century, statutory registers starting in 1855, and census records and valuation role going back to mid 19th century. You can search the records for free, but there is a fee for viewing documents.
- rootsireland.ie – Contains transcriptions of nearly 10 million birth or baptismal records. Requires a subscription to search the index.
5
Contact an official register to get an actual certificate. Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland each have their own register that will issue birth records for a fee:
- National Registers of Scotland – You will need the full name, date or year of birth, parent's names, and place of birth if known.
- General Register Office of Ireland – You will need the full name, approximate date of birth, gender, father's full name, and mother's first name and birth surname.
- General Registers Office of Northern Ireland – You will need the child's full name, approximate date of birth, sex, mother's maiden surname, and the registration district sub-district if known.