Analyst firm predicts rapid growth in citizens covered by government digital ID schemes
The number of people using government-issued digital identity credentials will grow by over 150% from 1.7 billion in 2019 to more than 5 billion in 2024, according to a new report by Juniper Research. The report says governments in emerging economies in Asia and Africa, such as Malawi and Nigeria, are following Estonia’s lead and rapidly developing digital identity programmes. By contrast, markets across Europe and North America will be led by the financial services sector and digital driving licences, rather than formal government identification, according to Juniper.
The analyst firm anticipates “mobile single sign-ons” will play a central role in several digital identity platforms, with over one billion users by 2023 generating over US$5 billion in revenues per annum. However, it expects less than 10% of dedicated identity apps to be blockchain-based by 2023.
Meanwhile, a survey of almost 1,500 U.S. consumers found that Americans opened more new accounts online with their mobile devices (61%) than on a computer (56%) in the past twelve months. However, the study by ID tech company IDology also found that in the past year, 83 million Americans abandoned an account registration mid-way through the process. “Friction is still one of the biggest barriers between businesses and consumers,” IDology noted. “The one-click simplicity of the mobile age has conditioned consumers for instant gratification.”
For more information, please see Juniper’s press release and IDology’s press release.