The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has deactivated more than 2 crore Aadhaar numbers belonging to people who have died as part of a nationwide data-cleaning exercise, the government said on Wednesday. The initiative aims to safeguard the integrity of the Aadhaar database and prevent misuse of identity credentials.
UIDAI carried out the deactivations after matching Aadhaar records with death registrations and other data received from the Registrar General of India, state governments and several central ministries and departments. The authority said it validates records before deactivation and is working to keep the database current by regularly ingesting official death-registration feeds.
Family members can also report the death of a relative using the myAadhaar portal. To report a death, a family member needs to authenticate on the portal and submit the Aadhaar number along with the official death registration number and basic details; UIDAI reviews the submission and proceeds with deactivation after verification. The authority has urged families to use the portal after obtaining the death certificate to help prevent identity fraud.
UIDAI says safeguards are in place and that it validates death records before deactivating Aadhaar numbers. The authority has also published procedures for reactivating Aadhaar where a number was deactivated in error — an individual who is alive but marked deceased can apply for reactivation and submit prescribed evidence for verification.
UIDAI’s effort to weed out Aadhaar numbers of deceased individuals began in 2024 and was scaled up through 2025. By mid-July this year, over 1.17 crore IDs had been deactivated, rising to about 1.4 crore by September as the authority moved toward its year-end target of 2 crore.
However, gaps in civil registration systems and inconsistent death-record data in some states have raised concerns among experts about the risk of wrongful deactivations and the difficulties they could create for citizens. UIDAI maintains that it relies on multiple data streams and layered verification checks to minimise such errors.
If a family wants to report a death quickly, they should obtain the official death certificate and use the myAadhaar portal to submit the Aadhaar number and death registration details. UIDAI will verify the submission before deactivation.
If an Aadhaar number is wrongly deactivated, the concerned person can follow UIDAI’s reactivation process and provide documentary proof of being alive; UIDAI has circulated guidelines for such cases.
Source: India Today