Luanda: A total of 17,166,000 national identity cards (BI) have so far been issued by the Angolan authorities both domestically and within the diaspora, National Director of Registries and Notary Services Aristides Marques announced on Thursday in Luanda.
According to Angola Press News Agency, The information was provided to journalists on the sidelines of a meeting of the Life Verification Commission, chaired by Minister of State and Head of the Civil Office of the President of the Republic, Dionsio da Fonseca.
According to the official, more than 1,100,000 documents were issued during the Identity Card Universalisation Campaign, promoted by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to bring civil registration and identification services closer to citizens.
Regarding the Universalisation of Civil Registration and Identity Cards Programme, he said it has been progressing normally, with daily improvements in results in areas where there is a need to reinforce mobile registration teams.
He acknowledged, however, that over the past two months the Government has recorded growing demand at service centres due to the large number of children applying for identity cards.
To reduce the impact of increased demand for identity cards required for school enrolment during the school holidays, mobile teams were created to bring services directly to citizens and prevent overcrowding at service centres.
'These teams are already operating. We have several campaigns under way nationwide, all coordinated by provincial delegations and deployed according to schedules and the areas where each province has the greatest need,' he said.
The Strategic Plan for the Universalisation of the Identity Card aims to guarantee Angolan citizens access to civil identification documents and facilitate issuance procedures.
In 2026, the plan entered a new phase, with strengthened technological, logistical and operational measures designed to accelerate document issuance across the country.
The main objective established under the plan is to provide identity cards to all adult citizens listed in the civil registry database by December 2026.
The measure is also considered important for the voter registration update process ahead of the 2027 elections.
As part of the new measures, the Government intends to progressively reduce the issuance and delivery period for identity cards to as little as 48 hours in certain locations, although the general deadline remains 72 hours.
The strategy also includes the modernisation and decentralisation of services.
All 21 provinces now have installed capacity for the local issuance and printing of identity cards, while national daily production capacity has increased from 12,000 to 60,000 documents following technological upgrades.
In Luanda, nine printing centres are currently operational.
To facilitate access for citizens living in remote areas, the Government has also expanded mobile brigades equipped with portable printers to serve communes and more isolated settlements.
Another measure introduced in 2026 was an additional service for biometric data collection and home delivery of identity cards upon payment of a special fee. In its initial phase, the service was launched in Luanda Province.
On the legislative front, the Council of Ministers has advanced the Draft Civil and Criminal Identification Law, which establishes the national identity card as the sole valid and mandatory document for citizen identification in Angola. The proposed legislation provides for the replacement of personal registration certificates and paper birth records as standalone identification documents.
