Under the 2021 Italian Presidency, the G20 recognised digital identity as a priority for achieving social and economic inclusion, forming part of its broader commitments to advancing digital government through the work of the G20 Digital Economy Task Force (DETF).
As enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all individuals have the right to be recognised as a person before the law. There is still much to do to address the need for and basic right of individuals to be able to prove who they are: in 2018, one billion people in the world lacked access to proof of a legal
identity, and a further three billion people who held proof of their legal identities were unable to reliably use them in the digital world.
Broadening access to digital identity systems for individuals can help leapfrog paper-based, resource intensive and less secure identity systems to propel economic development by opening new markets and including the marginalised into society and the formal economy. Achieving portable and re-usable identity,
that works across borders and for both public and private services, can help meet the 21st century needs of citizens and the global digital market.
Digital identity was a vital tool for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing for the provision of fast, secure, and remote access to public and private sector services. Dramatic increases in adoption followed from its use in aiding epidemiological surveillance, and ensuring the continuity of our societies
and economies. As the post-COVID recovery gains pace, digital identity is proving to be critical for enabling the verification of test and vaccination proofs. The benefits witnessed have underscored the importance of leveraging digital identity in future emergencies and crises, and to uphold public trust in digital identity systems by maintaining high security controls and privacy safeguards.
The G20 is well placed to lead a global transition to digital identity. Learning from existing, sometimes fragmented, digital identity solutions in the world and building on its accelerated adoption during the pandemic, the G20 can explore how to ensure that digital identity delivers on its promise of serving a better, more inclusive and prosperous world.
In line with the ambition of the Italian G20 Presidency, this report acts as a descriptive guide to the experience of digital identity for individuals and a potential departure for future work to realise the opportunities offered by portable and re-usable digital identity in the 21st century. Built on a collection of digital identity practices shared by the membership of the G20 DETF, it provides the policy and normative context for digital identity and what this implies, both in terms of challenges and opportunities. It surfaces uses of digital identity during the COVID-19 crisis and considers the necessary enabling conditions for successful adoption of portable and re-usable digital identity.
This report provides four main concluding observations for the G20 membership to support the general development of inclusive, equitable and trusted digital identity solutions that allow citizens to verify and authenticate their identity as easily as possible in any given context:
- Digital identity can add the greatest value when it is integrated into the day-to-day life of citizens allowing access to services provided by multiple sectors and countries.
- It is valuable to continuously reflect on the user experience (including end-users and service providers) in the development and delivery of digital identity solutions.
Source: OECD