The E-Government Survey, published by the United Nations (UN) every two years since 2001, analyses the development status of e-government in all UN member states. To this end, the report provides detailed data and analyses as a benchmarking and development tool for governments.
As a result of digitalisation, government institutions and authorities around the world are undergoing a comprehensive transformation process. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments to rethink the role of the state and develop digital solutions to ensure the continuity of administrative services. As the eGovernment report shows, the approach in recent years has increasingly evolved from a technocratic to a data- and user-centred approach. Accordingly, e-government is no longer limited to additional, peripheral administrative services. Rather, digital administrative structures are now a critical necessity for the functioning of physical administration and the public sector as a whole.
The study shows that, particularly in highly developed countries, state-of-the-art technologies such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence are increasingly being used to manage and utilise citizen data.
However, not all countries have reached a high stage of development in digital administration and the social benefits of the solutions developed vary greatly.
Measured by the value of the E-Government Development Index (EGDI), digital administration in Europe is well advanced with a value of 0.8305 (global average 0.6102). Progress has been made in the last two years, particularly in the telecommunications infrastructure. In contrast, countries in Africa (0.4054) and Oceania (0.5081) as well as landlocked countries in Asia perform below average. Overall, more than 3 billion people worldwide live in countries with below-average EGDI. In an international comparison of 22 key administrative services, an average of 19 are digitally accessible in European countries, 17 in Asia, 16 in the Americas and only 12 each in Oceania and Africa. Differences in the availability and quality of digital administration also tend to be found at sub-national, local level between larger cities and smaller and rural municipalities.
The study also found that the ongoing digitalisation of public administration is exacerbating existing socio-economic inequalities at national and international level due to the digital gap between different population groups. This effect was further exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to make digital administration equally beneficial for underprivileged groups, barriers related to the digital skills of disadvantaged groups and the general availability and accessibility of resources and infrastructure must therefore be specifically addressed.
