Citizen Identification Number
The Citizen Identification Number is an 18-digit alphanumeric code serving as the unique, lifelong national identifier for every citizen of the People's Republic of China, embedded on the Resident Identity Card and used for verifying identity in government administration, financial transactions, employment, and social services.[1][2] The system was formally established by the State Council on October 1, 1999, replacing earlier formats to standardize identification across the country and enable more precise data management for over 1.4 billion residents.[2] Its structure encodes key personal details: the first six digits denote the administrative division of birth or registration, the next eight represent the birth date in YYYYMMDD format, the following three form a sequential code (with odd numbers assigned to males and even to females for same-day births), and the final digit is a checksum derived from a weighted modulo-11 algorithm to prevent errors and forgeries.[1][3] Mandatory issuance begins at age 16, with the card renewed every 10 years (or 20 years for those over 20) and integrated into digital platforms for real-name registration in telecommunications, banking, and online activities, facilitating efficient governance but also enabling comprehensive tracking of individual activities through linked databases.[2][3] While the number's uniformity supports fraud reduction and service delivery—such as streamlined access to healthcare and public transportation—its centralization has drawn scrutiny for amplifying state surveillance capabilities, as empirical implementations tie it to biometric systems like facial recognition for real-time monitoring in urban areas and border controls.[2] In legal contexts, the identifier underpins the social credit framework, where non-compliance with regulations can restrict travel or financial options, reflecting a causal link between identification permanence and behavioral incentives in China's administrative model.[4]Historical Development
Origins in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Unique Master Citizen Number (JMBG), a 13-digit personal identifier, was established in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on January 8, 1977, through coordinated federal and republican legislation that mandated its assignment to all living citizens born prior to that date.[5] This initiative sought to consolidate disparate local civil registries prevalent in the federation's multi-ethnic republics and autonomous provinces, fostering a standardized mechanism for tracking individuals amid the demands of centralized socialist administration.[6] Conceived under the oversight of federal authorities responsible for internal affairs, the JMBG incorporated encoded elements such as date of birth, gender, geographic origin, and a sequential serial component to support systematic population oversight, which was critical for resource distribution, labor allocation, and bureaucratic efficiency in a state emphasizing planned economic coordination across diverse regions.[5] Unlike prior fragmented systems reliant on municipal records, this unified code enabled cross-republic data interoperability, addressing administrative redundancies inherent in Yugoslavia's federal structure while maintaining individual uniqueness without reliance on names or addresses alone. Rollout proceeded rapidly post-enactment, with assignment integrated into birth registrations and existing civil documentation by the late 1970s, extending to vital sectors like employment verification and social services to minimize duplication in record-keeping.[6] By the early 1980s, its adoption had permeated routine administrative functions, reflecting the Yugoslav government's push for technocratic rationalization in governance, though implementation varied slightly by republic due to local capacities. This foundational system underscored the regime's commitment to empirical population control as a pillar of socialist governance, predating similar identifiers in other Eastern Bloc states.Adaptations in Successor States After 1991
In the successor states emerging from the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after 1991, the Unique Master Citizen Number (JMBG) persisted as a foundational element of administrative infrastructure, enabling seamless continuity in identity management despite the ensuing political and ethnic fragmentations. This retention stemmed from the JMBG's entrenched role in civil registries, legal documentation, and public services, where replacing it wholesale would have disrupted essential functions such as pension calculations, property records, and vital statistics across newly independent entities. All former republics continued to issue, use, and accept the JMBG as a valid identifier, albeit with variations in public visibility and supplementary systems to address post-independence needs.[5] Serbia maintained the JMBG without structural alteration, designating it as the core personal identification number for citizens in official interactions, including tax administration, healthcare access, and electronic services. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the system endured amid entity-level divisions, proving instrumental during the 1992–1995 war for documenting displacements affecting over 2 million people and substantiating return claims through pre-conflict records. Montenegro and North Macedonia similarly upheld the JMBG's format and application post-independence, adjusting only for administrative boundaries while relying on its checksum for ongoing validation.[5][7] Croatia adapted the framework by enacting the Personal Identification Number Act on January 1, 2009, introducing the OIB (Osobni identifikacijski broj)—an 11-digit randomized code—to mitigate privacy concerns inherent in the JMBG's encoded birth and gender data, while retaining the latter in backend state registers for interoperability and historical data linkage. This shift aligned with preparations for EU accession, finalized on July 1, 2013, yet avoided a complete overhaul, preserving JMBG-derived mappings for legacy systems. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, ethnic-political deadlock over JMBG regulation peaked in 2013 protests, where citizens mobilized against entity vetoes delaying issuance; resolution came via federal legislation affirming the existing 13-digit structure without reform, underscoring its indispensability for unified citizen tracking.[8][9][10] By the 2010s, digital enhancements reinforced the JMBG's viability; Serbia incorporated it into the e-Government Development Programme (initiated 2009, expanded 2020–2022), linking it to portals for service authentication, beneficial ownership registries, and electronic invoicing, thereby modernizing access without supplanting the number itself. Despite EU harmonization pressures—evident in Croatia's OIB transition—no successor state pursued full discontinuation, as the JMBG's probabilistic uniqueness and administrative embeddedness outweighed reform costs, even as Slovenia paralleled Croatia with its EMŠO system for similar privacy rationales.[11][12][5]Technical Composition
Format and Digit Breakdown
The Unique Master Citizen Number (JMBG) comprises 13 numeric digits that encode key demographic and administrative attributes to guarantee uniqueness through deterministic assignment based on birth chronology, geography, and sequential ordering within gender categories.[5][13] The structure is as follows:- Digits 1–2: Represent the day of birth, ranging from 01 to 31.[5]
- Digits 3–4: Denote the month of birth, from 01 to 12.[5]
- Digits 5–7: Indicate the last three digits of the birth year (e.g., 086 for 1986 or 911 for 1911), enabling distinction across centuries without ambiguity.[5]
- Digits 8–9: Specify a two-digit code for the birth region or registry district, corresponding to administrative jurisdictions in the former Yugoslavia (with variations for pre-1977 issuances based on residence).[5][14]
- Digits 10–12: Form a three-digit serial number assigned to individuals born on the same day in the same region, with gender coding: 000–499 for males and 500–999 for females, providing up to 500 unique slots per gender per day per district to accommodate population densities.[5]
- Digit 13: Serves as a checksum for data integrity verification.[5]