The issuance of ID cards for children below 14 years old nationwide costs only 900 billion VND (38.37 million USD) while saving up to thousands of billions of VND spent on vaccination and health records, health insurance cards, and student ID cards, among others, according to Minister of Public Security Gen. To Lam.

The minister, entrusted by the Prime Minister, submitted a report to the National Assembly acquiring and explaining the NA Standing Committee’s feedback on the draft Law on Citizen Identification.

The new policy on issuing ID cards for children under 14 included in the bill has been approved by the Government, Lam said, citing its regulations saying the issuance is not compulsory and should be conducted per wish of residents.

Earlier, the NA Standing Committee and the NA Committee for National Defence - Security suggested further consideration and calculation of the costs and budget for the implementation of the policy.

The Government’s report affirmed the feasibility of the new regulations thanks to technological advancements in biometric authentication.

Lam said the issuance matches immigration regulations and other relevant rules, while ensuring legitimate rights and interests of people in engaging in civil transactions, especially those essential to their daily lives.

It also serves State management and promote values and convenience of the cards in activities of the digital Government and the digital society, he continued.

Although the ID cards has advantages in terms of information security and safety, and integrated information, they cannot replace bird certificates, according to the minister.

Statistics showed that the number of children under 14 in Vietnam now stands at 19 million./. VNA