It will probably be impossible to predict, too many options available.  I wish it would be better off do.

They will never remove them, they are an excellent tool for control, and very common in use with socialistic societies for many years now.

I can not see any other need for them than the one stated above, population control.

To add on to what happy is saying, the high population of China, and it's less than effective way to control corruption and crime, the identity card and hokou are really efficient ways to keep up with the masses