Data privacy guarantees can prompt digital ID adoption in laggard countries

A new report suggests that regulatory and governance frameworks that prioritize data privacy can trigger more adoption of eID in countries where interest levels still remain low.

This is one of the major issues highlighted in the 2024 global eID report published this month by Strategy & Part of the PwC Network.

The 26-page benchmarking report delves into adoption and data privacy of the online identification function in the digitized world of eight countries. These countries include Denmark, Estonia, France, India, The Netherlands, Norway, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay.

The report notes that although digital ID adoption has continued to gain traction over the years, the speed of adoption by countries varies because while some countries are considered as pioneers in the use of eIDs, others are only just starting to consider their introduction.

It proposes that for eID adoption to grow stronger, countries with stagnating user rates, or those looking to introduce it, must consider data privacy as “a critical factor” and “continually monitor and enhance data privacy to ensure a trust-building ecosystem, facilitating successful public digitization.”

The eight countries surveyed in the report are portrayed as eID global champions with high user rates (an average of 87 percent), high data privacy compliance (an average of 4.6 on 5), high trust level in eID privacy, as well as high number of eID service providers (an average of more than 100 per country). The results show that data privacy compliance correlates positively with trust levels, which in turn, increases user rate, per the report.

“Half of the countries surveyed are strongly dedicated to protecting data privacy and building trust. While administrators should prioritize data privacy to build trust, they should also design respective eID solutions in a compliant way,” a part of the report’s executive summary reads.

In order to design secure and user-friendly eID solutions, the report proposes some points to consider, namely data protection by design and default, risk assessments and measures, thorough documentation and overview and continual monitoring and enhancement.

Other points to note in the report include assertions that India’s Aadhaar is among the most adopted digital IDs in the world, that Uruguay’s eID has the highest user rate in Latin America, and that the Emirates ID is the most popular digital ID in the world with a 100 percent user rate.

Drafters of the report say it is their contribution to efforts aimed at finding international standards and best practices for digital ID use for both the public and private sector.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  data privacy  |  digital government  |  digital ID  |  eID  |  research and reports