INSEE code

Although today this national identification number is used by social security in France and is present on each person's social security card (carte Vitale), it was originally created under Vichy France under the guise of the Registration Number to the National Directory of Identification of Physical People (Numéro d'inscription au répertoire des personnes physiques, NIRPP or simply NIR).

The latter was originally to be used as a clandestine military recruitment tool, but in the end served to identify Jews, gypsies, and other "undesirable" populations under Vichy's conceptions.

The Demographic Service was created in 1940 in order to replace the military recruitment office prohibited by the June 1940 Armistice with Nazi Germany.

Their format is as follows: syymmlloookkk cc,[1] where The "sex" codes (s: 1 for male, 2 for female) can be given in special occasions for temporary registrations, such as for someone who a person who works as a wage-earner but is not registered for miscellaneous reasons.

Between April and August 1941, under the Vichy regime, Carmille conducted the first general survey to prepare the secret mobilisation of a French army.

The aim was to create a file of the whole of the French population and to discriminate according to ethnic or statutory criteria, following the racial policies of Vichy.

This institution is also in charge of the RNIPP (répertoire national d'identification des personnes physiques, National Repertory of Identification of Physical Persons), which contains for each individual: the NIR, last name, first name, sex, date and place of birth, and a reference of the Birth Registration (Acte de naissance).

However, this vehicle registration plate numbering system became optional in 2009 so the last two digits no longer necessarily indicate the department to which the car is registered.