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Fact check: How many citizens in Vietnam have adopted the new digital ID as of 2025?
Executive Summary
Vietnam’s VNeID digital ID rollout shows wide but uneven adoption: government and media reports between April and October 2025 present figures ranging from roughly 62–63 million individual users to system-wide counts of 123.9 million personal profiles and 63 million active users, while organizational profiles reach 1.3 million [1] [2] [3]. These discrepancies reflect differing definitions (accounts issued vs. biometric verification vs. active users) and reporting dates; no single authoritative total of “citizens who have adopted” exists among the provided documents [1] [3].
1. Numbers that get headlines — Why 62–63 million appears often
Several mid-2025 reports emphasize that over 62 million digital ID accounts were issued via VNeID and that daily logins average 3–6 million, a figure used to demonstrate broad public engagement and practical uptake in services like driving license and health card digitization [1]. The 62–63 million figure appears in multiple sources as a headline metric of adoption and usage, but those same sources indicate that the count refers to accounts issued or people who used VNeID, not necessarily to a fully biometric-verified population or to a stable, persistently active user base [1] [3]. This distinction matters for policy and public perception.
2. Bigger system counts — 123.9 million personal profiles and what they mean
By August 15, 2025, consolidated system reporting claimed 123.9 million personal profiles and 1.3 million organizational profiles had been biometrically verified, achieving what reporting calls 100% of transactional accounts, but this larger figure mixes historical records, duplicate profiles, and possibly non-citizen entries [3]. The same reporting cautions that the exact number of citizens who have adopted VNeID is not explicitly stated, signaling that administrative totals and “citizens served” are measured with different methods and that aggregated counts may overstate unique, enrolled individuals [3]. Policymakers and businesses interpret the 123.9 million as system reach, not guaranteed citizen-level adoption.
3. Active users versus issued accounts — a critical gap
Some sources report 63 million people have used VNeID as of mid-August 2025, while others highlight daily login ranges and transactional savings tied to platform use [3] [1] [2]. The reporting differentiates issued accounts, biometric verifications, and active users, and available documents do not reconcile these categories into a single “adopted citizen” statistic [1] [3]. The distinction is consequential: issued accounts can include dormant registrations, verified profiles can include non-citizens, and active users reflect recent engagement; conflating them inflates perceived universal adoption.
4. Banking reforms and account deactivations — indirect signals of adoption
Banking sector reporting from late September and October 2025 notes large-scale deactivation of accounts for non-compliance with biometric verification—figures like 86 million closed or deactivated bank accounts appear alongside statements that VNeID integration with banks has expanded to 32 banks and 57 organizations enabling biometric logins [4] [3]. These actions indicate institutional pressure driving adoption: mandatory verification rules pushed many account holders to enroll or risk closure, so banking-led compliance is an important driver of VNeID adoption even when headline citizen totals remain ambiguous [4] [3].
5. Economic and administrative impacts cited — quantify but do not clarify adoption
Government estimates attribute about VND 469 billion in administrative savings to digital public services delivered through VNeID and assert growing cross-sector e-transaction use, signaling measurable utility and fiscal benefits [2]. These impact metrics corroborate adoption momentum but are derived from service use rather than clear counts of unique citizens adopting the ID. Thus, while economic benefits strengthen the case for continued rollout, they do not resolve conflicting population-level figures or explain discrepancies between issued accounts and verified profiles [2].
6. Foreign nationals, account tiers, and definitional complexity
Reports confirm that VNeID was extended to foreign nationals with two account levels, and that organizations will be required to use these accounts for online public services, broadening the pool of registered profiles beyond Vietnamese citizens [5]. Including non-citizen accounts helps explain the gap between the 123.9 million verified profiles and lower citizen-centric figures like 62–63 million users, since system totals may encompass expatriates, organizational users, and duplicate or legacy records. This nuance underlines why a single citizenship adoption number cannot be extracted cleanly from available reporting.
7. Bottom line and what’s missing for a definitive answer
Across the supplied documents, the most defensible summary is that VNeID had between about 62–63 million individual users and 123.9 million verified personal profiles by mid-to-late 2025, with 1.3 million organizational profiles verified; however, none of the sources provide a reconciled, explicit count of unique Vietnamese citizens who have “adopted” the digital ID [1] [3]. To resolve the question definitively, authorities would need to publish a reconciled metric that distinguishes unique citizen accounts, biometric verification status, active usage window, and exclusion of non-citizen/organizational entries.