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Proving who you are is often the first step to participating fully in society. It allows people to access essential services, exercise their rights, secure employment, and connect to the digital economy. Singapore’s national digital identity platform, SingPass, which counts almost 5 million users, allows citizens and residents to conduct almost any transaction end-to-end online, no matter where they are, from registering a birth to filing taxes and opening a new business. In Uruguay, ID Uruguay digital platform enables users to securely access over 190 digital services and 1,500 online procedures, including healthcare, taxes, and social security.
Yet, for hundreds of millions around the world, these critical acts remain out of reach. Fresh data from the global ID4D-Findex 2024 data release, based on nationally representative surveys collected every three years, sheds new light on global ID trends.
800 million people worldwide lack official proof of their identity
The World Bank’s Identification for Development’s (ID4D) latest coverage estimates indicate that more than 800 million people worldwide are still without official proof of their identity; down from 850 million in 2021, and just over 1 billion in 2017. This means that one in ten people remain unable to prove their identity. Over half of these are children whose births have never been registered.
While foundational ID coverage for adults is now near universal in most regions, progress remains uneven. In Sub-Saharan Africa, coverage is around 80%, with nine countries reporting rates below 70%. However, coverage has improved in the region since 2017, when adult ID coverage was only 72% on average.
Figure 1: Sub-Saharan Africa lags behind other regions for ID coverage
Adults with ID, by region (%)
Source: ID4D-Findex Database 2024
For adults without an ID, the impact is immediate and far-reaching. In many developing countries, getting access to mobile connectivity is often the biggest hurdle: about 41% of adults without an ID say they cannot purchase a SIM card, cutting them off from mobile money, communication, and essential e-government services. Other impacts from not having an ID include being unable to participate in elections, secure formal employment, open a bank account, or access healthcare. To make real progress, countries need not only to expand coverage but also to ensure that IDs are practical, trusted, and broadly accepted by service providers, so they truly work for people in everyday life.
2.9 billion people do not have access to digital ID for online transactions
In 2024, 2.9 billion people still lacked access to digital ID systems that facilitate online transactions (“online digital ID”), down from 3.3 billion in 2021. Access to an online digital identity can enable individuals to securely authenticate themselves remotely, which is essential for more services and transactions to move fully online and a key component of the digital public infrastructure (DPI) ecosystem.
This year, the World Bank’s ID4D Initiative piloted new metrics to track global progress in online digital ID ownership and use in countries with an online digital ID system. Data from the surveyed countries show that of the adults living in countries with online digital IDs, around 32% reported owning one and 23% reported having used it. Moreover, significant differences exist between countries, with digital ID ownership ranging from 5% in Bolivia to 81% in Turkey, with large variations in how frequently these IDs are used.
Figure 2: Access to an online digital ID does not always mean use
Adults with an online digital ID (%)
Source: ID4D-Findex Database 2024
People need compelling reasons and practical use cases to see value in online digital IDs for their everyday lives. In Thailand, for example, linking digital IDs to bank or e-wallet accounts allowed informal workers to quickly and easily apply online for emergency cash assistance and receive the funds directly into their accounts.
IDs often leave women behind
For both foundational and digital IDs, women often face greater barriers. While regional averages may suggest equitable ID ownership and use across men and women, country level data reveal significant disparities. Although the gender gap in foundational ID ownership has narrowed over time, men remain significantly more likely than women to hold an ID in 12 developing economies, with the gap reaching up to 20 percentage points in Niger. Similarly, eight developing countries show significant disparities for online digital ID, with women less likely than men to own one, including Jordan, Türkiye, and Ukraine. These gaps become even more pronounced in terms of usage: 16 developing countries revealed significant gender differences in who uses digital IDs, including Brazil, Indonesia, and Peru. Similar divides disproportionately affect less educated, poorer, and rural residents, who lag behind more educated, wealthier, and urban counterparts.
As evidence continues to grow on the benefits of improving and digitalizing IDs, the urgency to ensure inclusive access and practical use becomes greater than ever. Indonesia’s experience shows how prioritizing inclusion during ID system expansion can help ensure broader accessibility. With ID4D’s support focusing on accessibility for citizens that are traditionally excluded, the country advanced the digitalization of its ID ecosystem, including the Identitas Kependudukan Digital (IKD) app, which has now onboarded about 16 million users.
Making Identification Work for Everyone
Ensuring inclusion for the 800 million people without a legal identity and the 2.9 billion without access to digital IDs will require sustained commitment from governments, development partners, and the private sector. However, making identification universal must go beyond simply issuing IDs.
The World Bank’s ID4D Initiative remains committed to helping countries not only expand access to birth registration, foundational IDs, and digital IDs, but also ensure that these systems enable practical and meaningful use cases, so people can securely and conveniently access essential services both in person and online.
The blog above is the first in a series that will share insights from the new ID4D-Findex 2024 Database. Upcoming blogs will explore the barriers that prevent people from obtaining an ID, take a deeper dive into digital ID systems and their role in service delivery, and examine how lack of identification excludes individuals from accessing a wide range of essential digital services. For a closer look at the data, see data360.
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