Digital identity

A state-backed, verifiable digital credential that lets people prove who they are online and access public and private services.

Identity is the gateway to digital public infrastructure. Design choices — central databases or wallets, biometrics or cards, mandatory or voluntary use — shape privacy and inclusion.

• Estonia's ID card (2002) and e-Residency (2014).
• India's Aadhaar, upheld with limits by the Supreme Court in 2018.
• The EU's European Digital Identity framework, adopted in 2024.

Centralised identity systems create surveillance risks and single points of failure; authentication errors can cut people off from benefits.

Digital identity is now widespread. Whether it should become the main gateway to membership in non-territorial communities is a forecast debated in the atlas.