All 195 countries · Southern Asia
Pakistan
Pakistan ties SIM cards and banking to biometric checks against NADRA records, and in December 2025 added facial and iris scans to the legal definition of biometrics. The State Bank announced a CBDC pilot plan in July 2025; no launch was confirmed.
Digital ID · Goal 16.9
Digital ID in Pakistan
- Program
- CNIC (NADRA); PakID
- Status
- Mandatory for daily life
- National ID card
- ID card compulsory
- Biometrics
- Yes
- Law
- National Identity Card Rules, amended Dec 2025
NADRA recommended an amendment to the National Identity Card Rules recognising facial and iris scans alongside fingerprints. Facial-recognition certificates are issued at NADRA centres from 20 January 2026. In August 2026 NADRA and the telecom regulator PTA were reported to disagree over using the PakID app for facial SIM verification; NADRA data-access regulations were notified on 28 July 2026.
Digital money · Goal 8.10
Central bank digital currency
- Status
- In development
- Name
- Digital rupee
On 9 July 2025 the State Bank governor said the bank planned a CBDC pilot and was finalising virtual assets law. No confirmed pilot launch in 2026 was found.
On the record
What has happened, newest first
- 2026-08Rolling it out
NADRA and the PTA were reported in dispute over facial verification for SIM issuance. ProPakistani ↗
- 2025-12Rolling it out
Pakistan amended its ID card rules to add facial and iris biometrics. Gulf News ↗
- 2025-07Rolling it out
The State Bank governor said it would pilot a CBDC. Dawn ↗
UN and WHO
How Pakistan has voted
- WHO
- Accepted the 2024 rule changes
- Pandemic Agreement (May 2025)
- No recorded objection
- Migration compact (Dec 2018)
- Voted yes
- Paris climate deal
- Party
- SDG Index 2026
- 59.3 · rank 131 of 169
- Progress reports to the UN (VNRs)
- 2
Sovereignty score
How the -3 adds up
- -1Building a CBDC (development stage) source ↗
- -2Digital ID required for banking, phones or daily life source ↗
Points come only from public, sourced actions we track, scored the same way for every country. It isn't a grade of a whole government. How scoring works →
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