Asian countries will be the biggest consumer’s of electronic credentials, according to IMS Research’s electronic government and health care card Opportunity Matrix.

IMS Research’s provides a ranking for the opportunity offered for suppliers of electronic government and healthcare ID cards for the leading 15 countries. The scores are calculated using a formula that is based on the projected number of smart cards/credentials shipped into national ID, passports, driver licenses and health care cards in 2016. The formula also takes into account the level of risk of cancellation/delay associated with each project.

China tops the matrix due to its high scores for its massive citizen ID project, but also the opportunity it presents in terms of e-passports.

India is ranked number two, driven by above average score in all of the four application areas. Asian countries hold the top four spots with Japan and Indonesia in third and fourth.

The U.S. was the highest-ranking non-Asian country at number five. It scored zero for e-ID, but scored well above average in terms of e-passports. Some localized deployments of e-driver licenses and e-health care cards also gave it an above average score for those applications too.

Germany was the highest-ranking European country at number six. Its long running health care card program was partly responsible for this, but also its national e-ID card rollout and e-passport rollout too have contributed greatly to its score.