The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has deactivated only 1.15 crore Aadhaar numbers in the country in the last 14 years, while crores of people have died during the same period, information sought by India Today TV under a Right to Information (RTI) has revealed.
By June 2025, there were 142.39 crore Aadhaar holders in India, while according to the United Nations Population Fund, the total population of the country stood at 146.39 crore in April 2025.
83.5 lakh deaths recorded every year during 2007-2019
According to official data from the Civil Registration System (CRS), an average of 83.5 lakh deaths have been recorded every year in India between 2007 and 2019. Despite this, the number of Aadhaar deactivations is very low.
In response to the RTI, UIDAI said that the process of deactivating Aadhaar of deceased persons depends entirely on the death records received from the Registrar General of India (RGI).
“As and when RGI shares death records information along with Aadhaar numbers to UIDAI; UIDAI, after due process, deactivates the Aadhaar number of the deceased Aadhaar holders,” UIDAI clarified.
New guidelines for deactivating Aadhaar
New guidelines for deactivating Aadhaar were issued through an official memorandum in August 2023, which require at least 90% matching in name and 100% matching of gender.
However, UIDAI has admitted that it does not maintain year-wise deactivation data. When asked for data for the last five years, the reply was, “No such information is maintained year-wise.”
“The total number of Aadhaar numbers deactivated based on death report data received from RGI, since the inception of the Aadhaar programme till 31.12.2024, is 1,14,69,869,” it said.