Dukcapil Promotes NIK as Single Identity for Public Services
The government, through the Directorate General of Population and Civil Registration (Dukcapil) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, continues to promote the strengthening of the National Identification Number (NIK) as a Single Identity Number (SIN) across various public services. This step is being taken amidst the continued use of diverse identity numbers by the public to access services, ranging from driving licences and passports to BPJS, tax IDs (NPWP), and Family Cards.
The NIK is considered qualified to serve as the basis for cross-service identity because it is unique, valid for life, and included in every population document. Furthermore, strengthening the NIK as a single identity aligns with the mandate of Article 58, paragraph (4) of Law Number 24 of 2013 concerning Population Administration.
The Director General of Dukcapil, Teguh Setyabudi, stated that the utilisation of population data has become a vital component of modern governance. “Population data has become an essential backbone in modern governance. Various ministries, agencies, local governments, and public service bodies utilise it to ensure that services to the community are faster, more precise, and more accurate,” Teguh recently said.
According to Teguh, the scale of population data utilisation continues to expand. As of 31 August 2026, 7,762 institutions have entered into data utilisation agreements with the Directorate General of Dukcapil. This figure consists of 2,585 central institutions and 5,177 regional institutions. During the same period, total access to population data reached 20,522,425,934 hits, averaging 8-9 million hits per day. This figure demonstrates the increasingly widespread use of population data to support public service needs.
With this data, the use of population information now reaches almost all sectors of public service, including health, education, taxation, banking, social assistance, social security membership, licensing, and electronic-based government services. “Through the use of population data, the process of verifying citizens’ identities can be performed quickly and accurately. This not only improves the quality of public services but also strengthens accountability and minimises the potential for data errors,” he said.
NIK as a Link Between Services
The expanding use of population data also drives the need for a single identity that can be used across various services. Teguh noted that interoperability between agencies is necessary so that the public does not have to repeatedly submit identity data when accessing various public services.
“The principle is simple: the public only needs to have one valid identity. Subsequently, while prioritising security and the protection of personal data in accordance with laws and regulations, this data can be utilised by various agencies to provide more effective and efficient services,” said Teguh. This concept aligns with the characteristics of the NIK, which is unique, valid for life, and included in every population document. Strengthening the NIK as a single identity is expected to serve as the basis for integrating various government services.
The use of population data also plays a crucial role in social protection programmes. Dukcapil data is used in the process of matching data for recipients of social assistance and government subsidies to increase the accuracy of programme distribution to eligible citizens. With an integrated population database, the government can strengthen the verification process for programme recipients while supporting more targeted public services.
Additionally, the strengthening of the NIK as a single identity goes hand-in-hand with the development of the Digital Population Identity (IKD). The Directorate General of Dukcapil is promoting IKD as part of the digital public service ecosystem. As of July 2026, the number of active IKD users has exceeded 20.5 million people. The government also targets 143 regencies/cities as locations for the development of the digital identity-based service ecosystem. The Directorate General of Dukcapil is also developing Liveness Detection technology, which allows IKD activation to be performed independently from anywhere. This development is aimed at expanding public access while maintaining security and personal data protection.
Strengthened by Biometric Technology
The digital identity transformation is further bolstered by biometric technology. As of the first semester of 2026, the Face Recognition (FR) service developed by the Directorate General of Dukcapil has been used 667,348,734 times to support electronic identity verification in various public services and digital transactions. This biometric development is progressing in stages. The foundation was built through the implementation of the electronic ID card (KTP-el) in 2011, which included the biometric recording of residents’ fingerprints, irises, and facial photos.
Subsequently, the Directorate General of Dukcapil developed FR technology and began officially implementing it as a digital identity verification system in 2020. Its use has since expanded through IKD since 2022. As of the first semester of 2026, the banking sector was the largest user of FR services with 299,642,054 accesses. This was followed by other groups with 109,499,546 accesses, non-ministry/agency groups with 103,318,062 accesses, ministries/agencies with 65,221,273 accesses, and payment services with 55,555,061 accesses. This usage demonstrates that the need for strong identity verification is increasing alongside the growth of digital services.
With the strengthening of the NIK, the development of IKD, and the use of biometric technology, the government continues to build a digital identity ecosystem that can support the integration of public services. These steps position the NIK and population data as one of the foundations of Indonesia’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). Thus, the strengthening of the single identity is aimed at making government services more integrated while making it easier for the public to access them.