Editing National identification number (section)

=== Finland ===
In [[Finland]], the ''Personal Identity Code'' ({{langx|fi|henkilötunnus}} (abbreviated as ''hetu''), {{langx|sv|personbeteckning}}), also known as ''Personal Identification Number'', was introduced in 1964 and it is used for identifying the citizens in government and many corporate and other transactions. It consists of eleven characters of the form <code>DDMMYYCZZZQ</code>, where <code>DDMMYY</code> is the day, month and year of birth, <code>C</code> the century sign, <code>ZZZ</code> the individual number and <code>Q</code> the control character (checksum). The sign for the century is either <code>+</code>&nbsp;(1800–1899); <code>-, U, V, W, X, or Y</code>(1900–1999); or <code>A, B, C, D, E, F</code>&nbsp;(2000–2099). The individual number <code>ZZZ</code> distinguishes persons with the same date of birth from each other and it is odd for males and even for females and for people born in Finland or permanent residents its range is 002–899. Numbers 900–999 are used for temporary personal identification, for example in hospitals, when an official ID is not known or has not yet been given to a child born. Temporary IDs are not logged in the Finnish Population Information System.

An example of a valid code for a fictional female born on 13 October 1952 is <code>131052-308T</code>. The control character, either a number or a letter, is determined by the remainder of <code>DDMMYYZZZ</code> divided by 31, i.e. by dropping the century sign and calculating the resulting nine-digit number [[Modulo operation|mod]] 31. The corresponding character is then picked from the string "0123456789ABCDEFHJKLMNPRSTUVWXY" (ambiguous letters G, I, O, Q, and Z are not used). For remainders below ten, the remainder itself is the control character whereas 10 corresponds to A, 11=B, 12=C, ending up with 30=Y. In this example, 131052308 mod 31 = 25 = T.

A Personal Identity Code is given to every Finnish citizen born in Finland. Foreign citizens whose residence in Finland is permanent or exceeds one year are also issued a personal identity code by law. The Personal Identity Code is a means to distinguish between individuals having the same name. It can be found in some public documents (such as the deed of purchase of real estate). Therefore, knowing the code should not be used as a proof of identity, although this sometimes happens in the commercial sector. Employers need the personal identity code to report payment of wages to Finnish Tax Administration, the pension funds, etc.

The code is shown in all forms of valid identification:

* [[Finnish identity card|national ID card]]
* electronic national ID card (with a chip)
* [[Driving licence in Finland|driver's license]] (old [[A6 paper|A6]]-sized and new credit card-sized)
* [[Finnish passport|passport]]

During 1964–1970 the personal identity code was known as ''sosiaaliturvatunnus'' (SOTU, Social Security number). The term is still widely in use unofficially (and incorrectly).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vrk.fi/default.aspx?id=45 |title=Personal identity code - Population Register Centre |publisher=Vrk.fi |date=1952-10-13 |access-date=2014-03-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203001620/http://www.vrk.fi/default.aspx?id=45 |archive-date=2013-12-03 }}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |author=Erkka Wessman |title=Developments in personal identification: The Finnish henkilötunnus |date=2018 |type=master's thesis |publisher=NTNU |hdl=11250/2502577 }}</ref>