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State of Aadhar

Debates around Aadhaar have tended to be polarised—yet national household data has been thin on what Aadhaar has done (and not done) for the residents of India.The primary purpose of this study was to give a broad cross-section of Indian residents a voice in the national discourse on Aadhaar.

State of Aadhar . Top Insights

Explore the highlights from State of Aadhaar 2019’s pulse and in-depth surveys

Explore the highlights from State of Aadhaar 2019. These findings are from a pulse survey with 147,868 households in 28 states and union territories, and an in-depth survey with 19,209 households in 16 states and 1 union territory.

  • Aadhaar is becoming ubiquitous in India

    95% of adults have Aadhaar, and on an average use it once a month

    75% of children have Aadhaar

  • A notable minority still does not have the ID

    90% of residents in Assam and

    61% of residents in Meghalaya do not have Aadhaar

    30% of homeless, and 27% of third-gender residents do not have Aadhaar

    8% of people do not have Aadhaar – or an estimated 102 million people,
    75 million of whom are children

  • Updating is the hardest part of the Aadhaar process

    33% of people who tried to update found the process difficult;
    one in five did not succeed

    4% of people currently have errors in the information on their Aadhaar card

    15% of people have an error in their linked mobile phone number;
    an additional 39% have not linked a number at all

  • Aadhaar has supported inclusion

    49% of people used Aadhaar to access one or more services for the very first time
    (e.g., ration, MGNREGS, social pensions, SIM cards, and/or bank accounts)

    For 8% of people, Aadhaar was their first ID ever

  • For many residents Aadhaar has improved service delivery

    80% of beneficiaries feel Aadhaar has made PDS rations, MGNREGS and social pensions more reliable

    Using Aadhaar, residents were 40% more likely to obtain a new SIM card within one day, compared to using other forms of ID

  • Problems with Aadhaar can lead to denial of welfare services, and at times exclusion

    0.8% of people experienced exclusion due to Aadhaar-related reasons from a key welfare service (PDS, MGNREGS, social pensions) which they had earlier received. (Our survey also found that 3.3% of people experienced exclusion because of non-Aadhaar related problems from a key welfare service which they had earlier received)

    1% of MGNREGS job card holders did not get work the last time they tried due to Aadhaar-related reasons (compared to 31% due to non-Aadhaar related reasons)

    0.5% of social pension beneficiaries did not receive their pension the last time they expected it due to problems with Aadhaar (compared to 5.7% who did not receive it due to non-Aadhaar related reasons and many more who could not identify a reason)

    1.5% of PDS usersexperienced a biometric authentication failure and did not receive ration in their last attempt. However, 3.2% of PDS users received their rations despite biometric authentication failure.

  • Despite the Supreme Court ruling, many people find that Aadhaar is de facto mandatory for bank accounts, SIM cards, and school enrolment

    More than half of all people who produced Aadhaar to get a SIM card or bank account, said their provider accepted only Aadhaar, even after the Supreme Court ruling

    3.3% of people were denied bank accounts, and 0.8% of people were denied SIM cards due to Aadhaar-related problems

    0.5% of 6 to 14 year olds could not enrol in school due to Aadhaar-related reasons

    65% of people mistakenly believe that providing Aadhaar is mandatory by law for bank accounts, SIM cards, and school enrolment

  • Most people appreciate Aadhaar’s universal acceptance; some have concerns

    72% of residents appreciate the convenience of Aadhaar as a universal ID, but almost half of these same people worry about the risks of linking it to too many services

    92% of people are very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with Aadhaar

    67% of people who have been excluded from a service due to problems with Aadhaar still say they are satisfied

  • The newer digital features of Aadhaar are yet to be embraced

    77% of people have never used a newer digital feature of Aadhaar (such as the mAadhaar app, QR code scanning, virtual Aadhaar number, or masked Aadhaar)

    Only 39% have linked a correct mobile phone number to their Aadhaar

  • Most people trust the Aadhaar system

    90% of people trust that their data are safe in the Aadhaar system

    61% of welfare beneficiaries trust that Aadhaar prevents others from accessing their benefits

    8% worry about the misuse of their Aadhaar,
    and 2% have experienced fraud that they believe was related to Aadhaar