Bangladesh is moving to introduce a lifelong digital identity for every citizen, including newborns, under a proposed One-ID system designed to replace fragmented identification processes and simplify access to government services.
The Unified Digital Identity would give each citizen a unique and permanent identity from birth that remains with them throughout their life.
The system is expected to support access to services including healthcare, education, welfare programmes and digital transactions, while reducing the need for citizens to repeatedly submit the same personal information to different government agencies.
One-ID would replace fragmented identification processes
Bangladesh currently relies on multiple identification systems for different stages of life and government services.
Children receive birth registration certificates, while National Identity Cards are generally issued from the age of 18. Passports, driving licences and Taxpayer Identification Numbers are managed separately.
Under the proposed model, services currently associated with documents such as the NID, Family Card and Farmer Card could gradually be integrated into One-ID.
Officials have not yet finalised which services or personal data fields would ultimately be included.
The ICT Division has indicated that existing cards could gradually lose some of their current functions as services migrate to the unified identity framework.
Government targets duplication across databases
A major objective of One-ID is to address duplication and poor coordination between government databases.
ICT Division Secretary Mamunur Rashid Bhuiyan said authorities have identified cases in which individuals possessed two birth registration certificates or even two passports.
A permanent identity linked across government systems is intended to reduce these inconsistencies while eliminating repeated data collection.
The government is studying identity systems used in countries including the United States, Singapore, Estonia and India as it develops the framework.
‘One Citizen, One Digital ID, One Wallet’
Information and Technology Adviser Rehan Asif Asad has described the concept as “One Citizen, One Digital ID, One Wallet.”
That vision suggests the government is considering a broader digital identity architecture that could eventually extend beyond authentication into digital transactions.
However, authorities have not yet determined exactly what information would be stored on the card or how the wallet component would operate.
These details will be particularly important in determining the system’s eventual scope, privacy requirements and security architecture.
D-STAR project could run through 2031
The One-ID initiative forms part of the proposed Digital Service Transformation for Access and Resilience, or D-STAR, project.
The programme is expected to run from 2026 to 2031 and would be implemented by the Bangladesh Computer Council.
It has been submitted to the Planning Commission for approval.
The project is estimated to cost BDX 552.5 billion ($2.9 billion), according to the figures cited in the proposal, with the government and World Bank expected to provide funding.
Initial plans call for identity coverage for around 180 million citizens, while 200 million polycarbonate chip cards would be produced.
Each card is estimated to cost BDT 246 to produce and print and another BDT 123 to distribute, bringing the total estimated cost to BDT 369 per card.
The largest share of the budget would go toward card production and distribution as well as biometric data collection, including fingerprints.
Database interoperability will determine success
The technical value of One-ID will depend heavily on whether Bangladesh can connect its existing public-sector databases.
Birth registration, NID, passport, driving licence and taxpayer systems currently operate separately.
If these systems can exchange verified information reliably, citizens could avoid repeatedly submitting the same data while government agencies could improve record accuracy and service delivery.
Without that interoperability, however, replacing multiple cards with a new identity credential would not necessarily solve the underlying fragmentation.
Why this matters
Bangladesh’s proposed One-ID system represents a significant shift from document-based identification toward a unified digital identity architecture.
The potential benefits extend beyond convenience. A common identity layer could support more efficient welfare distribution, healthcare access, education services, tax administration and digital payments while helping government agencies reduce duplicate or conflicting records.
The inclusion of newborns is especially important because it would create a continuous identity record from birth rather than introducing separate identification systems at different stages of life.
Editor’s note
The most important part of One-ID is not the physical card.
The real transformation depends on whether Bangladesh can create a trusted identity layer that allows government systems to communicate securely while maintaining clear rules around data access, consent, authentication and privacy.
The next milestones to watch will be Planning Commission approval, the final data architecture, biometric collection requirements, interoperability standards and the safeguards governing how agencies can access citizen information. Those decisions will determine whether One-ID becomes a genuine digital public infrastructure layer or primarily another identification credential added to the existing system.
