5.2m people covered by National ID

An ambitious project launched by the UAE a few years ago to have the country’s residents registered in a unified identity card has covered nearly 5.2 million people, more than 60 per cent of the total population, official data showed on Tuesday.

Nearly half of them were registered in 2011, when the Emirates Identity Authority (Eida) gave Emirates and expatriates successive deadlines to complete their registration or face penalties.

The deadlines were extended into this year for those who have not applied for the ID and applicants whose cards have expired.

By the end of 2011, around 5.277 million people have been registered in the ID system, nearly 63 per cent of the UAE’s total population of about 8.2 million.

Eida's figures showed around 2.44 million people were registered through 2011 while the Authority has sent a whopping 9.7 million mobile phone text messages to notify applicants about cards.

Eida did not say whether the registration process had been completed since newborn babies and children under school age are still outside the ID network.

The UAE became one of few Arab nations to introduce the unique ID system with the aim of upgrading security and census operations.

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