[xerophtye]

In my country, a lot of places use the National ID card (NIC) as a means of security. For example at a lot of office buildings or at "extra-secure" neighbourhoods (especially where military personnel live), they ask you to leave your NIC (or a copy of it) at the gate. So in case of an incident, they would have a record of who checked in and stuff.

Another security use case is in Banks. Since handwritten signatures are weak security, they usually ask you to attach a copy of your NIC when cashing/depositing cheques so they can trace the guy later in case of unlawful activity.

Yes yes, all above measures have loopholes but it's still security. I m just saying that ID cards aren't all bad. they have their uses.

[vertex-four]

My bank won't let me take money out without either my debit card or photo ID, so that's kinda moot.

A number of other things can be used as collateral, including, where absolutely necessary, a passport or drivers license.

There's no killer app, so to speak, for a national ID system that isn't solved today by voluntary means.