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The World's Identity Crisis : Planet Money Around one in seven people do not have any official ID, according to the World Bank.
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The World's Identity Crisis

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The World's Identity Crisis

The Indicator from Planet Money

The World's Identity Crisis

The World's Identity Crisis

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/723259456/732711514" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
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Toby Norman, winner of the World Bank's Mission Billion contest, aimed at increasing access to government ID around the world. Darian Woods hide caption

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Darian Woods

Toby Norman, winner of the World Bank's Mission Billion contest, aimed at increasing access to government ID around the world.

Darian Woods

One billion people — roughly a seventh of the world's population — do not have any official identification. That includes birth certificates, passports, and driver's licenses.

Identity can be a double-edged sword. Without ID, you often can't get a bank account, a phone connection, or access to government services like healthcare. But, as history has shown, ID can also be used to nefarious ends.

Today on The Indicator, we learn about how to better design ID systems, and we go to a Shark Tank-style pitch contest at the World Bank.

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