When an Aadhaar holder dies, the Aadhaar number is not transferred to another person. UIDAI can deactivate the deceased person’s number after validating death-registration information, but deactivation is not the same as deleting every record. UIDAI’s explanatory guidance says holder data is not purged after Aadhaar is issued and that records are retained for purposes such as preventing duplicate identities.
Families can report a death through the authenticated death-reporting facility on myAadhaar where it supports the State or Union Territory in which the death was registered. The service requires the deceased person’s Aadhaar number, the Death Registration Number and demographic details. UIDAI validates the submission before deciding on deactivation or another action.
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Deactivation is not deletion
The most important distinction is between the status of an Aadhaar number and the information held in UIDAI systems. A deceased person’s Aadhaar number may be marked inactive or deactivated after death details are matched. That status change should not be described as proof that all identity data, audit records or historical records have been erased.
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What deactivation means
Deactivation prevents the number from continuing as an active Aadhaar identity in UIDAI’s systems. UIDAI’s 2025 reactivation circular describes deactivation of a deceased person’s Aadhaar number after validation and matching of death-registration details with the database of the death-registering authority and the Aadhaar database.
What deactivation does not establish
None of the reviewed UIDAI material says that deactivation automatically closes a bank account, cancels a pension, ends a benefit, or removes a person from another institution’s database. Those organisations have separate legal and administrative processes. A family should notify the bank, pension office, insurer, employer, tax authority or welfare scheme directly when its rules require it.
Can someone else receive the same Aadhaar number?
No. Section 4(1) of the Aadhaar Act states that “An Aadhaar number, issued to an individual shall not be re-assigned to any other individual.” The number therefore remains tied to the original identity even if its status is later deactivated.
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This rule is different from the handling of mobile numbers, account identifiers or other identifiers that a provider might recycle. A deactivated Aadhaar number is not released for reuse by a new enrollee. The legal framework also gives UIDAI responsibilities for maintaining, omitting and deactivating Aadhaar records, while sections 28 and 29 address security, confidentiality and limits on sharing information, including core biometric information.
These provisions protect the identifier and restrict disclosure, but they do not themselves describe a complete post-death timetable for every data element. The safest wording is that the number is not reassigned, the active status can change, and retention is governed by UIDAI’s systems and applicable law rather than by an automatic public erasure event.
How to report a deceased family member through myAadhaar
UIDAI announced the family death-reporting facility on 26 November 2025. The process is designed for a family member who has the official death-registration information. Use the current myAadhaar interface because availability and screen labels can change.
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- Obtain the death certificate. Get the certificate from the authority that registered the death. UIDAI’s announcement specifically advises obtaining it before making the report.
- Check jurisdiction support. Confirm on myAadhaar that the facility accepts deaths registered in the relevant State or Union Territory. The November 2025 announcement covered 25 States/UTs and said integration for the remaining jurisdictions was under way. That was a dated snapshot, not a guaranteed list for October 2026.
- Authenticate as the reporting family member. Sign in through the authentication method offered by myAadhaar. The reporting person must complete the portal’s identity checks before submitting the record.
- Enter the deceased holder’s details. Supply the deceased person’s Aadhaar number, the Death Registration Number and the other demographic information requested by the form. Enter the details exactly as they appear in the death-registration record.
- Submit for validation. UIDAI compares the submitted information with data from the death-registering authority and its Aadhaar database. Keep the acknowledgement or reference details in case the portal asks for clarification.
Submitting a report is not the same as an instant, automatic deactivation. UIDAI validates the information first and may then deactivate the number or take another appropriate action. If the portal does not support the registration jurisdiction, contact the death-registering authority and UIDAI through the current official support channels rather than attempting to create a different State or Union Territory record.
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The validation step is intended to reduce false matches. UIDAI checks the Death Registration Number and demographic information against records held by the death-registering authority and the Aadhaar database. A mismatch in spelling, date of birth, registration number or other details can delay the outcome or require correction by the registering authority.
UIDAI’s public descriptions do not promise that every submitted report will produce deactivation. They describe validation followed by further action where appropriate. Families should therefore keep the death certificate and registration details available until the submission has been processed.
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How the process changed over time
Official statements show that the operational process developed after an earlier period in which there was no registrar-to-UIDAI mechanism for this purpose.
| Date | What the official record says | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| 5 April 2023 | A Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology answer in the Lok Sabha said there was then no mechanism for registrars to transmit deceased holders’ Aadhaar numbers for deactivation. | This describes the position at that date. It predates the later family-reporting facility. |
| 7 July 2025 | UIDAI issued Circular 02/2025 describing reactivation for a living person whose Aadhaar was wrongly reported as deceased. | The circular provides a remedy for an erroneous death match or report. |
| 26 November 2025 | UIDAI and MeitY reported that more than 2 crore deceased persons’ numbers had been deactivated. The family-reporting feature was available for deaths registered in 25 States/UTs at that time. | The count is cumulative to that release, and the jurisdiction figure can change. |
| 4 February 2026 | UIDAI and MeitY reported more than 2.5 crore Aadhaar numbers deactivated for deceased persons. | This is a cumulative figure as of the release, not the number of all deceased Aadhaar holders and not a deactivation rate. |
The 2023 statement should not be used to claim that no reporting mechanism exists today. Conversely, the later announcements should not be read as proof that every death in every jurisdiction is automatically matched or that all associated institutional accounts are closed.
What if a living person’s Aadhaar is marked as deceased by mistake?
UIDAI Circular 02/2025 provides a correction route for a living holder. The person should apply to the nearest UIDAI Regional or State Office by post, email or in person, following the office’s current instructions.
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- Contact the appropriate UIDAI office. Explain that the Aadhaar number has been deactivated even though the holder is alive. Include the contact details and identification information requested by the office.
- Provide supporting details. The office may ask for information needed to investigate the mistaken death report or failed match.
- Attend supervised biometric verification if required. UIDAI may call the holder to submit full biometrics at a designated Aadhaar centre under the supervision of a UIDAI official.
- Wait for the decision. The circular says UIDAI will communicate a decision within 30 days after the biometric submission.
Do not create a second Aadhaar enrolment to solve the problem. The Aadhaar system is designed around one number per individual, and obtaining another number could create a duplicate-identity issue. Use the reactivation process instead.
Does death reporting cancel benefits, pensions or bank accounts?
Not automatically on the evidence publicly described by UIDAI. Aadhaar is an identity and authentication system; a bank account, pension file, insurance policy, tax record or government benefit record is maintained by a separate organisation under its own rules.
After a death, the family may need to submit the death certificate separately to each institution. Ask each organisation whether it requires a death notification, nominee claim, succession document, account closure request or pension-stop instruction. Aadhaar deactivation can help prevent the deceased number from remaining active, but it should not be treated as a universal substitute for those notifications.
Privacy and retention: what is known and what is not
The Aadhaar Act’s confidentiality provisions restrict how identity information and core biometrics may be shared. UIDAI’s explanatory material also makes clear that issuance is not followed by immediate purging of the holder’s information. Together, those points support a practical conclusion: deactivation changes usability or status, while controlled retention may continue for security, deduplication, legal or administrative purposes.
Public UIDAI material reviewed for this question does not specify a single retention period that applies to every demographic field, biometric record, authentication log and audit trail after death. It would therefore be inaccurate to promise families that all data will be erased on a particular date. It is equally inaccurate to imply that deactivation makes the information publicly accessible; the statutory confidentiality and security rules continue to matter.
A practical checklist for families
- Keep the official death certificate and Death Registration Number together with the deceased person’s records.
- Check myAadhaar for current State/UT availability before starting the report.
- Enter the Aadhaar number and demographic details exactly as recorded.
- Save the portal acknowledgement or reference number.
- Notify banks, pension providers, insurers, employers and benefit offices separately when their procedures require it.
- If a living person is wrongly deactivated, contact the nearest UIDAI Regional or State Office and follow Circular 02/2025’s biometric-verification process.
Bottom line
Aadhaar does not disappear when its holder dies. The number cannot be reassigned, and UIDAI can deactivate it after validating registered-death information. UIDAI’s own guidance indicates that holder data is not simply purged after issuance, so deactivation should not be described as complete erasure. Families should use myAadhaar where their death-registration jurisdiction is supported, then handle bank, pension, benefit and other institutional records through those organisations’ separate procedures.
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