Identity document
document proving a person's identity, including driver's licenses, passports, and national identity cards
An identity document (abbreviated as ID) is a document proving a person's identity.
If the identity document is a plastic card it is called an identity card (abbreviated as IC or ID card). When the identity document incorporates a photographic portrait, it is called a photo ID. In some countries, identity documents may be compulsory to have or carry.
The identity document is used to connect a person to information about the person, often in a database. The connection between the identity document and database is based on personal information present on the document, such as the bearer's full name, birth date, address, an identification number, card number, gender, citizenship and more. A unique national identification number is the most secure way, but some countries lack such numbers or do not show them on identity documents.
In the absence of an explicit identity document, other documents such as driver's license may be accepted in many countries for identity verification. Some countries do not accept driver's licenses for identification, often because in those countries they do not expire as documents and can be old or easily forged. Most countries accept passports as a form of identification. Some countries require all people to have an identity document available at all times.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Identity document” is document proving a person's identity, including driver's licenses, passports, and national identity cards. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Identity, document and proving, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “document proving a person's identity, including driver's licenses, passports, and national identity cards” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q47988. The Library of Congress control number is sh85064144. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Identity document”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Identity document primary sources, Identity document archive and Identity research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Identity document” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.