South African identity number
South Africa · Individuals
Paste or type the number — punctuation is optional.
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What this check does — and what it cannot do
This tool checks the number's structure and its check digit, using the published algorithm for that document. A number that passes is well formed: it is arithmetically consistent and could have been issued.
It cannot tell you whether the number was actually issued, whether it is active, or who it belongs to. Only the issuing tax authority can confirm that, through its own lookup service. Treat a passing result as "worth submitting", never as proof of identity.
How the SA ID check works, and what the number tells you
A SA ID is a personal identity number issued in South Africa. This page checks one against the published rule, shows which specific test it fails when it fails, and decodes the facts the digits carry. Everything runs in your browser — the number you type is never sent anywhere.
How it works
- Applies the published checksum rather than only checking the length and shape.
- Names the exact rule that failed, so a typo is distinguishable from a number that was never valid.
- Decodes what the number encodes: date of birth, sex, citizenship.
- Does not generate numbers. This one identifies a person, and a page that manufactures plausible identity numbers is a liability rather than a feature.
13 digits: YYMMDD SSSS C A Z SSSS sequence — below 5000 female, 5000 and above male C citizenship: 0 citizen, 1 permanent resident A historically a race classifier, now always 8 or 9 Z Luhn check digit over all thirteen
Worked example
Checking 8001015009087, a valid SA ID, digit by digit.
- input 8001015009087
- normalised 800101 5009 087
- Date of birth 80-01-01
- Sex Male
- Citizenship South African citizen
- Checksum Luhn
- result passes every published check
The checksum passes, so the number is internally consistent, and the tool reads off date of birth, sex, citizenship. Internal consistency is not the same as the number being issued to somebody — see the note below.
Reading the result
- The eleventh digit used to encode a racial classification under apartheid. It was abolished and the position now always carries 8 or 9, but the field itself remains in the number — a reminder that identifier formats outlive the policies that shaped them.
- A passing checksum means the digits are consistent with each other, not that the number exists. Only South Africa's own registry can tell you whether a number was actually issued and is still valid, and no offline tool can substitute for that.
- The check happens entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, logged, or stored, which matters more here than on most tools because these numbers are personal data in every jurisdiction that issues them.
- Punctuation is ignored. Spaces, dots, dashes and slashes are stripped before the check, so a number pasted in any common local format is read the same way.
Common questions
- My number is real but this says it is not valid. Why?
- Check for a transposed pair of digits first — that is the single most common cause, and every checksum here is designed to catch it. Failing that, the number may predate the current rule: several countries changed or introduced their checksum at a known date, and older numbers were not reissued. If the tool names a specific rule that failed, that is the one to look at.
- Does a valid result mean the number is registered?
- No, and this is the limit worth understanding. A checksum proves the digits are mutually consistent, which catches typos and made-up numbers. It cannot prove the number was issued, is still active, or belongs to the person quoting it. Only the issuing authority's own lookup can do that.