Legal Identity System Maturity Assessment: Methodology

Original Language
English
ISBN (PDF)
978-92-9268-997-1
Number of Pages
114
Reference Number
PUB2025/032/R
Year of Publication
2025
Hide Region
Region
Worldwide
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Country
Worldwide

Legal Identity System Maturity Assessment: Methodology

IOM’s Legal Identity System Maturity Assessment takes a comprehensive look at how a country’s legal identity system works. It examines how key components – such as civil registration, national ID systems and functional registers – are connected and how they support each other. By collecting data across all these areas, the assessment helps identify where the system is strong and where it faces challenges. This big-picture approach allows for a clear understanding of how the system performs overall and helps generate practical, coordinated recommendations to improve it. The goal is to support IOM Member States in building legal identity systems that uphold human rights, ensure equal access to services, and protect every individual’s right to recognition before the law. 

  • Introduction to Legal Identity System Assessment Methodology
  • Pillars of a legal identity system
  • Maturity Level Assessment Methodology
  • Assigning scores and weights
  • Calculating weighted points
  • Overview of legal identity system categories, their maturity indicators, scores and weights
  • Determining the overall maturity level
  • Civil Registration
  • Historical background/legal framework and institutional setup
    • Birth registration completeness
    • Death registration completeness
    • Marriage, divorce and other vital events registration completeness
    • Accessibility of registration services
    • Decentralization of notifiers of vital events
    • Unique identifier
    • Digitalized records processing
    • Digitalized legacy records management
    • Registration of vital events of citizens abroad
  • National ID System
  • Historical background/legal framework and institutional setup
    • ID Card coverage rate
    • Accessibility of ID application/renewal offices
    • Type of ID token
    • Technology and infrastructure
    • Operational efficiency
    • Accessibility of passport services for citizens abroad
    • Passport security
  • Digital Public Infrastructure
    • Civil registration and national identity records integration
    • Population register
    • Digital Identity accessibility
    • National data interoperability layer
    • Security of personal data
  • Management of Foreigner’s Identity Data
    • Visa management system
    • Border management information system
    • Register of resident non-citizens
    • Access to legal identity for undocumented migrants
    • Access to legal identity for migrants with refugee or asylum-seeker status
  • Compliance with Rights-Based and Equality Standards
    • Children’s right to legal identity
    • Women’s right to equal legal identity
    • Migrants’ Right to Legal Identity
    • Persons with disabilities’ right to legal identity
    • Legal identity data protection and privacy
    • Civil society participation and oversight