Given a certain place, somewhere in rural China or Congo or wherever, how sure are we it is the case that you can't do anything without the state ID? I for one

Given a certain place, somewhere in rural China or Congo or wherever, how sure are we it is the case that you can't do anything without the state ID? I for one have no clue. Maybe the reality on the ground is quite different than the theory. And even if it is true. Even here in lets-say-civilised Romania, there's possibly a reasonable number of people who have emigrated but are still on the books. Because it takes effort to remove yourself, and little gain, so people don't do it. And the bureaucracy certainly does not do it by itself. They don't care in the slightest. There are a lot of possibilities. A lot. The world isn't that simple.