The clear leader in deployment and usage of a national e-ID system is Estonia. As of early 2011, Estonia had issued approximately 1.2 million cards out of an eligible population of 1.3 million citizens (90%). In addition, since inception cardholders have used their card to create more than 52 million electronic signatures and used their e-ID for 88 million electronic authentication transactions. Estonia has even used its e-ID system to allow citizens to vote online.

National e-ID systems offer a variety of benefits for individuals, businesses and governments. These systems can help reduce identity theft and enable individuals to use online applications more securely in a variety of industries such as health care and banking. Individuals can use an e-ID to authenticate to online services, securely communicate online, purchase goods and services, and create legally-binding electronic signatures, such as to sign a contract. Businesses can use identity management functions to better interact with their customers on the Internet, such as to authenticate users to online applications or to verify the ages of their customers. Finally, government can use e-IDs to streamline e-government services, allow individuals to sign and submit forms online, and offer innovative services.

A second group of countries, including Austria, Belgium, Malaysia and Slovenia all have high levels of adoption of e-IDs, but have yet to show high levels of use. For example, Austria, Malaysia and Slovenia all have near universal roll-out of e-ID cards, but the data shows little use of digital certificates for signing digital documents or authenticating citizens to electronic services. Belgium also has a high level of deployment, having fully rolled out the e-ID system to its 10.7 million citizens, and is already using its second generation of e-IDs. However, Belgium also reports a relatively low rate of use, with 14.2 percent of citizens using an e-ID to electronically file their income tax.

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation full report.