Mobile ID schemes take the lead over digital identity cards, with a third more users relying on apps compared to cards in the next 5 years

Mobile ID platforms usage to grow significantly in 5 years. Source: unsplash.com

A new report from Juniper Research found that the number of people using government-issued digital identity credentials will grow by over 150% from an expected 1.7 billion in 2019 to over 5 billion in 2024. Emerging economies in Asia and Africa are some of the biggest markets, as countries leapfrog analog identities to benefit from the efficiencies digital registration and management bring.

The report shows that those countries unencumbered by legacy systems are following Estonia’s lead of rapid digital identity development. For example, we expect almost 12 million people in Malawi to have digital identities in 2022, with Nigeria and other countries supplying digital identity to over 300 million people on the continent on both cards and apps.

Governments typically provided such cards, which many people in more developed countries have previously rejected. Juniper Research anticipates that markets across Europe and North America will be led by the financial services sector and digital driving licenses, rather than formal government identification.

Juniper Research believes mobile single sign-ons will be a large part of several digital identity platforms, with over 1 billion users by 2023; generating over $5 billion in revenues that year.

Blockchain and the self-sovereign identity movement are part of this future, but will be a small piece of the puzzle, despite average yearly growth of 35%; less than 10% of dedicated identity apps are expected to be blockchain-based by 2023.

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