Ministry slashes number of duplicate IDs

The number of people with duplicate ID numbers has been cut from 1.68 million in 2009 to just 486 today, a senior official at the Ministry of Public Security said on Wednesday.

The number issued by the ministry identifies Chinese citizens within the country, and it has a function similar to that of the Social Security number in the United States.

The ministry will cancel all duplicate ID numbers by the end of 2016, realizing the goal of one ID number and one hukou (residence registration) for each citizen, said Huang Ming, vice-minister of public security.