Number of My Number Cards Held Tops 100 M.

Tokyo, Dec. 5 (Jiji Press)--The number of My Number personal identification cards owned by individuals in Japan has topped 100 million, the internal affairs ministry said Friday.

The ministry said that 100,029,804 My Number cards were held as of Wednesday, or

80.3 pct of the country’s population.

“This is the result of various efforts including expanding the convenience of the cards,” internal affairs minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told a news conference.

The issuance of My Number cards began in 2016. The government has since been promoting their use by integrating public health insurance certificates into the cards and making their functions available on smartphones.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]