Biometrics and digital identity in Africa

Forty-nine African countries now operate biometric systems, with foreign vendors dominating a market that controls the continent’s most sensitive identity infrastructure.

An estimated half a billion Africans lack identity documents, driving governments to deploy biometric systems rapidly. Still, weak governance frameworks often mean these technologies exclude the very populations they’re intended to serve.

From Uganda’s Ndaga Muntu to Kenya’s Huduma Namba, biometric deployments across Africa face common challenges: data breaches, corruption in enrollment processes, exclusion of elderly citizens, and the use of facial recognition to monitor political dissent.

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