Why girls lack ID — and what policymakers can do 

For most individuals, proving id is easy: a easy presentation of a authorities identification (ID) opens entry to companies resembling healthcare, financial institution accounts, SIM playing cards, and the proper to vote. 

But, in line with the World Financial institution’s 2024 Identification for Improvement (ID4D) Initiative information, about 800 million folks lack identification, with girls disproportionately affected.  

As governments broaden digital public infrastructure (DPI), guaranteeing equitable entry to foundational ID programs is essential to keep away from widening inequality. This transient outlines the important thing obstacles driving gender gaps in ID possession and supplies actionable coverage options to broaden entry, cut back prices, and enhance financial participation.  

With out ID, people are successfully excluded from monetary programs, social safety, and digital economies. This drawback makes ID entry a foundational coverage difficulty for inclusive progress. Whereas the quantity of folks with out identification has fallen from over 1 billion in 2017 and 850 million in 2021, the protection hole stays substantial and continues to disproportionately have an effect on girls and different marginalized teams, notably in Low-Revenue Nations (LICs).

The place gender gaps are largest

Over 85 % of individuals with out identification stay in LICs or Decrease-Center-Revenue Nations (LMICs).  

Regardless of near-universal protection in some areas, Sub-Saharan Africa stays an outlier, accounting for greater than half (412 million) of the world’s folks with ID. 

Nationally consultant ID4D-Findex survey information reveal that 9 international locations, 8 of that are in Sub-Saharan Africa, have gender gaps in ID possession exceeding 5 share factors. Niger exhibits the widest gender hole at over 20 share factors, practically twice that of Togo, which ranks second (Determine 1). 

Regardless of continued challenges, gender gaps in ID possession have improved globally. In 2021, 15 international locations recorded gender gaps above 5 share factors. By 2024, that quantity had fallen to 9. Most international locations that had excessive gender gaps in 2021 noticed enhancements in 2024, signaling a worldwide pattern towards gender parity in ID possession. But, closing the hole requires focused options that tackle girls’s lived realities and the structural obstacles that constrain entry.

Why girls lack ID

Aggregating World Findex information throughout 9 international locations with important gender gaps reveals two dominant obstacles confronted by girls with out an ID: lengthy journey distances to registration facilities (45 %) and the absence of essential documentation (41 %) (Determine 2). Lengthy distances to registration facilities is probably the most constantly reported problem by girls with out an ID in international locations with massive ID possession gender gaps. In Mozambique and Guinea, for instance, 52 % of ladies report that the space between their residence and the registration heart prevents them from acquiring an ID. When ID companies are concentrated in city areas, rural residents typically face a tough tradeoff: touring to register might imply shedding a full day’s wages. For individuals who depend on a each day wage, this chance value is commonly prohibitive.

Word: Graph presents girls’s aggregated causes for not having an ID in international locations with gender gaps exceeding 5 share factors in 2024, together with Niger, Togo, Guinea, Mozambique, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Madagascar. Ethiopia excluded from aggregates because of lack of information on the the explanation why girls lacked an ID. Estimates are weighted means and based mostly on respondents ages 15 and over who're additionally above the eligible age for acquiring the ID. A number of alternatives permitted. Response choices embody: (1) you could have one other type of identification issued by the federal government; (2) you do not want an ID for any objective; (3) it's too costly; (4) you do not have the required paperwork; (5) you might want to journey too far to use; and (6) you don't really feel comfy giving your private data. Supply: ID4D Findex Knowledge (2025).

Lacking prerequisite paperwork creates a round drawback: folks want paperwork to get paperwork. Of the 800 million unidentified folks globally, over half are youngsters whose births had been by no means registered. In Guinea and Togo, roughly two-thirds of ladies report missing the paperwork wanted to use. Paradoxically, acquiring these prerequisite paperwork typically requires the very ID they’re attempting to acquire.

Further obstacles compound these constraints. Limitations embody excessive registration charges (32 %), reliance on various types of ID like voter playing cards (30 %), discomfort with sharing private information (22 %), and restricted perceived profit from having an ID (19 %). Most unidentified people face a number of of those obstacles concurrently, considerably rising the entire value of acquiring ID.

The price of invisibility: what girls lose with out an ID

Missing ID excludes girls from greater than bureaucratic programs. Throughout international locations with the best gender gaps, girls with out an ID most steadily reported being unable to purchase a SIM card (Determine 3), a prerequisite for accessing digital companies within the 155 international locations that require an ID for cellular registration. With out connectivity, girls are shut out of cellular banking, emergency alerts, e-commerce, and the digital marketplaces driving growth.

Word: Graph presents girls's aggregated information on the difficulties girls with out an ID expertise for the international locations with gender gaps above 5 share factors in 2024 together with Niger, Togo, Guinea, Mozambique, Pakistan, Nigeria and Madagascar. Ethiopia excluded from aggregates because of lack of information on the difficulties girls in Ethiopia expertise because of lack of ID. Estimates are weighted means based mostly on respondents aged 15 and older who're additionally above the authorized age for acquiring an ID. A number of alternatives permitted. Response choices embody: (1) receiving monetary help from the federal government; (2) utilizing monetary companies; (3) acquiring a SIM card/cell phone service; (4) collaborating in elections; (5) making use of for a job; and (6) receiving medical care. Supply: ID4D-Findex Knowledge (2025).

Past connectivity, 31 % of ladies with out an ID in high-gap international locations report being unable to obtain authorities monetary help, which means the very security nets designed for probably the most weak are inaccessible to those that want them most. Different difficulties embody being unable to vote (28 %), entry medical care (23 %), use monetary companies (22 %), or apply for a job (19 %). The ID hole due to this fact represents a structural barrier to equality: it prevents girls from collaborating in civic life and the formal financial system, exacerbating poverty and dependency.

Coverage actions for governments and regulators

Closing the remaining gender hole in ID possession requires focused, evidence-informed motion:

1. Strengthen civil registration programs to make sure each baby has their start registered and receives a start certificates. Built-in processes between well being ministries, civil registries, and native governments are important.
2. Use sex-, age-, and location-disaggregated information to establish the place people lack foundational ID and goal interventions extra exactly, resembling cross-referencing authorities databases and nationwide surveys.
3. Deploy cellular registration items in rural areas to scale back journey time and prices, prioritizing girls dealing with mobility constraints and staffing items with feminine brokers the place cultural context requires it.
4. Cut back monetary obstacles by waiving registration charges, providing transportation allowances, or offering sign-up incentives for low-income households.
5. Revise regulatory requirements that create specific or implicit obstacles, together with by introducing simplified digital know-your-customer (e-KYC) necessities aligned with world Monetary Motion Process Drive (FATF) requirements, providing various verification strategies, and strengthening privateness protections.
6. Leverage behavioral nudges by testing social norm messaging — resembling speaking that the majority group members now have an ID — and measuring its affect on registration charges.

By: Francesca Brown (Director of Coverage and Advocacy at Ladies’s World Banking), Julia Clark (Lead Digital Specialist with the Digital Coverage and Laws unit on the World Financial institution Group), Victoria Johnson (World Coverage Advocacy Specialist at Ladies’s World Banking), and Jorin Margaux Wolff (Analysis Analyst Marketing consultant with the Digital Public Infrastructure and Authorities Companies unit on the World Financial institution Group)