Duong Van Tam became a father not long ago.

Last week he went to the People's Committee office of Dich Vong Hau Ward in Hanoi’s Cau Giay District to get the birth certificate for his child.

He was surprised to see a 12-digit number in the certificate. He was then told it was the personal identification number of his child, and that every newborn would get one.

It will be used for all types of administrative procedures as the child grows up, and will be the number on their ID card when they are old enough to get one.

So far 56 out of 63 cities and provinces have provided these numbers to 2.6 million babies, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

The remaining seven provinces are yet to have their data infrastructure connected with the national database, but that would be done by next year, when the national population database is complete, Hoang Loi, director of the center that maintains the national population database on Vietnamese said.

The national population database stores and manages basic information about all citizens. When it is complete by 2020, the Ministries of Justice and Public Security will ensure all newborns have their ID number in their birth certificates.

Since 2016 ID cards have included the 12-digit ID number. It used to be a nine-digit ID number earlier.

The new numbers carry personal information and connect with the national database while the old ones did neither.

ID cards are issued when people turn 14.

With a population of 95 million, Vietnam is gradually completing its national database on its citizens.

The project to digitize the data is in a list of tasks for the medium term to be completed between 2016 and 2020.

By April this year 86 percent has been completed.

Thanks to the new ID numbers, many administrative have become simpler and more convenient, saving time and costs.

People would not have to repeatedly make copies for an estimated 1,300 different types of administrative tasks, saving around VND1.6 trillion ($69 million) a year.