An Identification Number is allocated to a person by the Department of Home Affairs to identify them.

An RSA ID Number consists of 13 digits in the format YYMMDDSSSSCAZ:

• YYMMDD: The date of birth, year/month/day.
  
  
• SSSS: Defines the Gender.
  • Females: 0000-4999
  • Males: 5000-9999
    
    
• C: Citizen Status.
  • 0: South African Citizen.
  • 1: Permanent Resident.

• Z: Checksum digit, used to check that the number sequence is accurate using a set formula called the Luhn algorithm.