The last few years have seen governments around the world ramp up their efforts to digitize, largely under the moniker of ‘e-government’. Every two years, the United Nations (UN) E-Government survey documents the progress being made around the world.
The latest survey was published recently and sees Denmark, Australia and South Korea coming out on top of the 40 countries analyzed for the study. Each country scored particularly highly on a range of measures that are designed to understand the use of digital technologies in the delivery of public services.
In a pleasing sign of progress, more countries made it into the top tier of the index than any other year. Indeed, across the world, roughly 2/3 of the UN member states demonstrate a high level of e-government development, with those at the lower end falling by 50% since the last survey was conducted.
Smart cities
For the first time, the survey also examined the progress being made by individual cities. They analyzed 40 cities from around the world, with the somewhat surprising result that Moscow came out on top, followed by Cape Town and Tallinn in joint second spot, and London and Paris in fourth.
“We are glad to hear that Moscow is leading e-government in the world. It is our priority to provide as much digital services as we can to simplify citizens’ lives. Moscow is a case study for other Russian cities to replicate the model throughout the entire country in the very near future,” Andrey Belozerov, Strategy and Innovations Advisor to CIO of Moscow says.
The Local Online Services Index (LOSI) was compiled based upon 60 unique indicators across categories such as technology, content, digital services and citizen engagement.
Digital divide
Despite the progress being made across the board, the authors remain concerned about the digital divide that exists in e-government development. Fourteen of the sixteen lowest scoring countries are African, whilst the regional average for Africa and Oceania are considerably lower than the global average. With digital progress so important in supporting development more generally, the authors worry that this divide could get deeper and deeper.
Europe continues to lead the way however, both in terms of the countries at the forefront of e-government and those who are progressing rapidly. For instance, nine of the top 15 countries are from Europe, whilst eight of the 11 new countries entering the ‘very-high performing group’ in the latest index were from Europe (Belarus, Greece, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, Poland, Portugal and the Russian Federation).
I’ve commented previously on the relatively slow progress being made in the various smart city projects being undertaken around the world, so it’s pleasing to see a degree of progress being made in e-government.
