Most consumers want age verification through reusable digital IDs: Jumio survey

Three quarters of global consumers are willing to go through age verification if it will help keep children away from age-restricted products and services, according to Jumio’s Online Identity Study for 2026.

Follow-up analysis of Jumio’s survey of 8,000 adults across the U.S., UK, Mexico and Singapore centers around the consistently strong support found for age verification. The company’s initial analysis of the study warned that the majority of consumers were worried about an increase in children betting during the FIFA World Cup  — and that nearly three-quarters of those surveyed say platforms are responsible for blocking underage users.

An even higher number of adults (81 percent) believe age verification is important for preventing minors from accessing harmful or restricted content, and the same number believe age-gated content is harmful to children.

Little surprise, then, that 79 percent support government action to regulate age assurance online. This is despite 71 percent saying that parents hold the most responsibility for protecting children online.

On the other hand, one in three said they would avoid a platform that asks them for personal information to complete age verification entirely. Two-thirds would be more comfortable with a way to share only proof of eligibility, and almost as many want reusable verifications rather than repeating them. Reusable digital IDs and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), then, would seem to be the way to increase consumer comfort with age checks.

“There’s still a major trust gap around what happens to personal data during age verification. Stronger age assurance doesn’t necessarily mean collecting and permanently storing large amounts of sensitive data, but consumers need to understand what information is required and why,” says Joe Kaufmann, global head of privacy at Jumio. “Transparency and responsible data handling are critical to building trust and encouraging consumers to participate in the verification process.”

Jumio CEO Mark Lorion points out that there is a significant difference between age estimation and verification. The higher assurance provided by age verification, he says, should be coupled with minimization of data collection and storage.

The World Cup provided a concrete example of how consumers now expect platforms to enforce age minimums, according to the report. Forty-nine percent of World Cup bettors said they would be willing to share a government-issued ID document and biometrics to access a digital gaming platform.

The relative consumer acceptance of facial age estimation and biometric age verification remains one of the pressing questions facing the age assurance market, which is set to surpass $7.3 billion in global revenue by 2027, according to the 2026 Age Assurance & Digital Age Credentials Market Report from Biometric Update and Goode Intelligence.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometrics  |  Jumio  |  reusable digital ID