National identification number


A national identification number or national identity number is used by the governments of many countries as a means of uniquely identifying their citizens or residents for the purposes of work, taxation, government benefits, health care, banking and other governmentally-related functions. They allow authorities to use a unique identifier which can be linked to a database, reducing the risk of misidentification of a person. They are often stated on national identity documents of citizens.
The ways in which such a system is implemented vary among countries, but in most cases citizens are issued an identification number upon reaching legal age, or when they are born. Non-citizens may be issued such numbers when they enter the country, or when granted a temporary or permanent residence permit.
Some countries issued such numbers for a separate original purpose, but over time become a de facto national identification number. For example, the United States developed its Social Security number system as a means of organizing disbursing of welfare benefits. The United Kingdom issues National Insurance Numbers for a similar purpose. In these countries, due to lack of an official national identification number, these substitute numbers have become used for other purposes to the point where it is almost essential to have one to, among other things, pay tax, open a bank account, obtain a credit card, or drive a car.

Africa

Nigeria

The Nigerian National Identification Number is issued and managed by the National Identity Management Commission. It is an eleven-digit number assigned by the government to Nigerians of all ages as well as to legal residents. The NIN is used to facilitate access to public services and the exercise of civil rights in Nigeria. A key technology supporting the NIN initiative is the Android Enrolment Solution, a mobile application developed by Seamfix Limited that enables NIMC agents to enrol individuals into the National Identity Database using mobile devices in both urban and remote locations across the country.

Somalia

In Somalia, the National Identification and Registration Authority was established in March 2023. Its mandate includes developing a National Identification Number, designed to streamline administrative processes, enhance security, and mitigate fraud and corruption by verifying identities in both digital and in-person transactions.

South Africa

In South Africa every citizen must apply for an Identity Card from the age of 16 years. The ID number is already allocated at the time the birth certificate is generated and required for child passport applications. This passport-size document contains only 8 pages – the first page containing the national identification number, name of bearer, district or country of birth, as well as a photograph of the bearer. The other pages are used for recording of voting participation, a page for driver's license information, as well as pages for fire arms licenses. The card is required to apply for a passport, car learner's license, motorcycle learner's license, driving license, motorcycle license and to vote. The Identity Card is not used for international travel purposes but usually is acceptable photographic identification for internal flights, and mainly serves as proof of identification. Some authorities may accept the driver's license as proof of identity, but the Identity Card is the only universally accepted form of identification. The government has started issuing ID cards which contains a biometric chip which, in turn, holds biographical information which is unique to the holder of that specific card. The South African government has since phased out the Green Barcoded Identity Card and replaced it with the plastic Smart Identity Card. The Identity number is also used when the holder applies for a grant from the South African Social Security Agency.

Validation

A South African person identification number is a 13-digit number containing only numeric characters, and no whitespace, punctuation, or alpha characters. It is defined as YYMMDDGSSSCAZ:
  • YYMMDD represents the date of birth ;
  • GSSS is a daily sequence number, where female newborns are assigned numbers starting with 0000 to 4999, male newborns from 5000 to 9999, and the sequence is reset each day;
  • C is citizenship status, with 0 if the person is a SA citizen and 1 if the person is a permanent resident;
  • A is 8 or 9, although prior to 1994 this number was used to indicate the holder's race;
  • Z is a checksum digit.
As an example, the ID Number 500015009087 would be assigned to a citizen born on 5 July 1998, who was the tenth male to be registered that day
The checksum digit is calculated using the Luhn algorithm or its equivalent, shown below:
  • X1 = the sum of the digits in the ID number's odd positions
  • X2 = 2 multiplied by the concatenation of the digits in the ID number's even positions
  • X3 = the sum of the digits in X2
  • X4 = X1 + X3
  • Z = the difference between 10 and the last digit of X4

    Racial classification

During the apartheid era the next to last digit, "A", denoted "race". Since these documents were not then issued to the majority population, the "race" code does not include those classified as Black. i.e. 7605300675088
"A" Classification:
  • 0: White
  • 1: Cape Coloured
  • 2: Malay
  • 3: Griqua
  • 4: Chinese
  • 5: Indian
  • 6: Other Asian
  • 7: Other Coloured
After about 1987, the racial classification was eliminated, and all existing numbers were reissued with new digits in the last two fields.

HANIS

In contrast to other countries the South African ID number is not unique, at least because of the use of a two-digit year. Other issues with duplications exist: however the Department of Home Affairs HANIS Project has planned to rectify that with ID smart cards. The timeline for that is undetermined as the last budget request for 08/09 and 09/10 included requests for budget for it despite the project being active since 1997.

Zimbabwe

Upon reaching the age of 16 the applicant then has to go to the registrar generals offices in their district to obtain a national ID. Foreigners in Zimbabwe have their ID number with the district of origin as 00 meaning they are foreigners so their ID number would look like 12 345678 A00. Zimbabweans who are not of black race also get a district of origin shown as 00, even those who are of mixed race. It was announced in September 2021 by the Department of Home Affairs and Cultural Affairs that the '00' code would be abolished as it differentiates "citizens on the basis of race, colour and creed"

Americas

Argentina

In Argentina, the only nationally issued identification is the National Identity card or DNI, Documento Nacional de Identidad. It is a number not related to anything in particular about the person. It is assigned at birth by the Registro Nacional de las Personas, but parents need to sign up their children, and because of this there are some people, especially the poor, who do not have a DNI.
The ID is required for applying for credit, opening a bank account, and for voting. The law has used to also required a person to show their DNI when using a credit card until 2024. Prior to the DNI the LC, and LE were used. This was later unified in the DNI.
For taxpaying purposes, the CUIT and CUIL are used. An example of the ID is 20-10563145-8. It is based on the DNI and appends 2 numbers at the beginning and one at the end. For example, 20 and 23 for men, 27 for women, and one control digit at the end. Employees have a CUIL, and employers have a CUIT. The first two digits to identify the CUIT for companies are for instance: 30 or 33. If a person decides to open a company of their own, their CUIL usually becomes their CUIT. The CUIT was needed because a different identification is required for companies, which cannot be identified by a DNI number.
Starting in September 2023, Argentina's National Registry for People began issuing National Identity Documents for newborns starting with the 70,000,000 series. This change is due to that the 60,000,000-series was assigned in 2019 to the Unique Labor Identification Codes and Unique Tax Identification Codes for foreigners. Therefore, it was decided to skip directly to the 70 millionth series to avoid numbering conflicts once the 59,999,999th series was exhausted.

Brazil

In Brazil, there are two main systems: The first, the Registro Geral is the record number of the Identity Cards issued by the Institutes of Identification from Federative Units under a national graphic and data standard since 1984. However, the General Registry is assigned federatively and also coexists with a few other registry numbers, making possible to a Brazilian or Portuguese with equality of rights and duties to have other General Registries by other federative units being almost impossible for one to coincide with another. The other system, the Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas, is the main tax identification issued on an exclusive, federal and lifetime basis by the Secretary of Federal Revenue of Brazil originally for taxation purposes. One, the other and/or both numbers are required for many common tasks in Brazil such as opening a bank account or obtaining a driver's license. However, a new Identity Card version has been issued since 2022 with the citizens' General Registries based around the CPF.
Another type of registration is the Social Security Number, currently originated when a person accesses the National Social Security Institute's website with its CPF or starts to work for an enterprise or institution of almost any nature.
There's also the Título Eleitoral issued by the Regional Electoral Courts from the Federative Units and mandatory for Brazilians and portugueses with equality of rights and duties from 18 to 70 years old.