Here is what your South African ID number reveals about you.

Ever wondered why your South African ID number is 13 digits long? Well. The government of South Africa, through the Department of Home Affairs, issues a unique serial number to every legal citizen and permanent resident, thus enabling them to properly identify and categorize everyone in the country.

South African Green ID Document.

This is how your ID number was created:

• The first 6 digits (YYMMDD) of the ID are based on your date of birth. I.e. 20 February 1992 is displayed as 920220.

• The next 4 digits (SSSS) are used to define your gender/sex. Females are assigned numbers in the range 0000-4999 and males from 5000-9999

• The last 3 digits indicate whether you were born in South Africa or you applied for a permanent resident being from elsewhere. Usually end with 08 7, 08 1 etc. If the last 3 digits of your ID starts with Zero (0), it shows you are a South African born citizen, and a one(1) implies that you are a permanent resident, likely born from another country. (The 1 and 0 is known as 'C')

Serial digits that compose an ID number

Individual with ID number of format 991201 0000 08 1 is, therefore, a female, who was born in South Africa in the year 1999, December the 1st, meanwhile the format 991201 5555 18 7 would denote a Male individual who is a permanent resident in South Africa who was in the same year as the female counterpart.


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