Fayda — Ethiopia's National Biometric Digital ID for 90 Million

Fayda is Ethiopia's national biometric digital identity system, developed under the National ID Programme (NIDP) at the Ministry of Innovation and Technology and based in Addis Ababa. It uses TECH5's multi-biometric matching engine to verify identity via fingerprints, iris scans, and facial photographs, aiming to give citizens trusted access to public services, financial inclusion, and social protection transfers.

The programme aims to provide every Ethiopian with a trusted biometric digital identity that enables access to public services, financial inclusion, and social protection transfers, with a target of 90 million people enrolled by 2027-2030.

NIDP enrolls citizens using TECH5's multi-biometric matching engine (fingerprints, iris, and facial photographs) and integrates the resulting Fayda ID with government agencies' systems, financed in part by a $350 million World Bank 'Digital ID for Inclusion and Services' project.

By October 2024, Fayda had issued 8.8 million digital IDs and recorded 3.2 million authentications, with 32 government agencies integrated, rising to 55 institutions by mid-2025. Ethiopia advanced 10 places in the 2024 UN E-Government Development Survey.

While enrollment and agency integration continue to scale toward the 90-million target, observers have noted that Ethiopia lacks a comprehensive data protection law and that TECH5's proprietary biometric algorithms are not independently auditable, and no published data exists on service-delivery quality or error rates by demographic group.