The 20-Year History of Estonia’s eID Card

Estonia has, for a long time, been recognised as a tech-savvy country – boasting the highest number of tech-startups per person in the world.

It took a step further into the eState provision of citizen services in 2002 with the introduction of the ID card. The whole idea behind the eState in Estonia is based on the ID card and the system built on its chip. Countless citizen hours have been saved thanks to being able to do daily activities and transactions, such as declaring income, eVoting, and buying real estate, without leaving home.

‘By now, we take this merit for granted.’ said Mark Erlich, an expert in the field of electronic identity at the Estonian Information System Authority (RIA). ‘New generations have not had to experience the bureaucracy and inconvenience that preceded the digital age. We are the only country in the world that uses a digital identity guaranteed and secured by the state, where people are used to using digital services, and where there is a high level of trust, thanks to which we have been able to conduct eVoting, for example, since 2005.’