Nigeria is among key nations that have come into focus in a new forecasts projecting that in five years time, half of the world’s population will have a chip-based National eID card.
[blockquote right=”pull-right” cite=”The Global National eID Industry Report: 2014 Edition”]This rapidly evolving dominance of eIDs reflects the global drive towards eGovernment and eCommerce services enabled by electronic identities. This transformation will provide substantial opportunities as national, regional, and global transaction infrastructures secured by a trusted eID platform emerge over the next five years[/blockquote]
“Nigeria appears to be making progress on their National eID program after years of promise and false starts”, according to Acuity Market Intelligence forecasts which cites that near-complete regional coverage in Europe. Asia, with its vast population, is expected to dominate the market accounting for more than 60% of all National eID cards issued between 2014 and 2018.
The leading identity analyst firm’s report — “The Global National eID Industry Report: 2014 Edition” — projects that nearly 3.4 billion National eID cards will be issued over the next five years doubling global National eID card circulation from 1.75 billion to 3.5 billion by 2018.
According to Acuity Principal and biometrics and secure document market expert, Maxine Most, “In addition to the 3.4 billion chip-based National eIDs issued between 2014 and 2018, another 300 million National ID cards will integrate biometrics into non chip-based card programs.”
“Recent National ID news from across the globe validates Acuity’s growth projections,” says Most. “India and the Philippines are reviving efforts to introduce National eID cards to support their national identity programs. Turkey has announced the integration of biometrics into their National eID card scheme. South Korea is facing intense pressure to replace their National ID system due to rampant data breeches and fraud. And Nigeria appears to be making progress on their National eID program after years of promise and false starts.”
According to the report, there is currently an acceleration in the market for National eID’s programmes.
“Today, there are twice as many National eID issuing countries as those issuing traditional National IDs. By 2018, the number of National eID issuing countries will exceed those issuing traditional National IDs by a ratio of more than 5 to 1. This rapid acceleration in the deployment of National eIDs means that by the end of 2018, 84% of all National IDs issued will be eIDs and that there will be nearly 3.5 billion National eIDs in circulation”, according to Acuity.
This rapidly evolving dominance of eIDs reflects the global drive towards eGovernment and eCommerce services enabled by electronic identities. This transformation will provide substantial opportunities as national, regional, and global transaction infrastructures secured by a trusted eID platform emerge over the next five years, the report said.
The Global National eID Industry Report: 2014 Edition includes more than 350 charts and tables providing comprehensive, detailed country-by-country, regional, and global unit and revenue forecasts and analysis for all National eID cards programmes, the company said.
The report evaluates three categories of National ID programmes:
Programs that rely on chip or optical storage based National ID cards that may or may not incorporate biometrics.
Programs that rely on traditional non-chip based ID cards that incorporate biometrics to uniquely identity each cardholder.
Biometric registry only programmes that rely on a centralized biometric database to issue unique identity numbers.