According to Sustainable Development Goal SDG 16 of the U.N. Agenda 2030 we’re going to need a digital identity.   This high-minded goal doesn’t tell us that, it simply describes itself as:

“The promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, the provision of access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable institutions at all levels.”

The devil is in the details.  Drilling down a level to target 16.9, the goal is “By 2030 to provide legal identity for all, including birth registration.”

The World Bank which states that Birth registration alone is not enough.  Health treatments need to be tracked, including vaccinations.  It will be needed for banks and households where there’s “more than one family.”
Source: The criterion problem: Measuring the legal identity target in the post-2015 agenda

The World Bank argues that SDG16.9 is “key to attainment of many other SDG goals.”

So the U.N…