Biometric passports rapidly becoming the norm
A new report indicates that biometric passports will soon become ubiquitous around the world; within the next five years, 90 percent of passports will contain integrated smart card IC chips that will hold the carrier’s biometric data
A new report indicates that biometric passports will soon become ubiquitous around the world.
The report, titled “Electronic Government and Health Care ID Cards – World – 2011” and released by IMS Research, found that within the next five years, 90 percent of passports will contain integrated smart card IC chips that will hold the carrier’s biometric data.
Currently nearly half of all current passports issued already use smart chip technology as a result of shift in trends beginning in 2007.
“This trend is set to continue,” said Alex Green, the study’s author. “There are still a few countries around the world that are not yet issuing e-passports. However, most have started and with the typical five to ten year replacement rates for passports, it is only a matter of time before all passports in circulation are e-passports.”
The majority of current e-passports are largely limited to digital images of an individual’s face, but Green said that in the next several years passports will contain even more biometric information.
“By 2014, the situation is forecast to have been reversed. By this time the majority of passports being issued will also include additional biometric data such a one or more finger print, iris scans, etc.,” Green said.
