UN E-Government Survey 2022

The United Nations E-Government Survey allows measuring the level of development of the 193 member countries, in connection with dimensions related to technological infrastructure, availability of online services, and ability of citizens to take advantage of those resources.

According to the latest report, Uruguay maintains, for the eighth year in a row, the leadership position in the Very High EDGI group of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, followed by Chile, Brazil, and Costa Rica. The report highlights that Uruguay “performs exceptionally well in terms of e-government development” in comparison with other countries of similar characteristics.

At a global level, our country is in the 35th position, with a score of 0.8388, and is third in the Americas, only below the United States and Canada.

The survey underlines the consolidation of the most developed countries in the first ten positions: Denmark, Finland, South Korea, New Zealand, Iceland, Sweden, Australia, Estonia, The Netherlands, and the United States. It also reports the notorious rise of countries such as Israel, Malta, United Arab Emirates, Luxemburg, and Greece, which have significantly improved their score and outpace Uruguay in the final ranking, making our country drop 9 positions regarding 2020 when it held the 26th position.

The “Human capital” dimension shows an evident increase from the previous assessment, and the “Infrastructure” dimension is stable, as the country remains in a very prominent position. The Online Services Index has had the most significant drop from the previous assessment. This index underwent a relevant change in terms of methodology concerning the assessment this year, incorporating into its calculation the E-participation sub-index. Although Uruguay has had noted positions in this regard, this year it has a low ranking and this has led to the drop in the Online Services indicator. Considering these results, achieving a better position in the ranking shall require strengthening the online interaction between the citizens and the State, and the involvement of civil society in the decision-making process based on the use of ICT.

Methodological aspects

This assessment evaluates the global and regional e-government development by scoring the national government portals. It is designed to provide a comparison of the progress of the countries and the classifications regarding the development of e-government in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The methodological framework used for data collection and evaluation is based on the measurement of e-government development through the E-Government Development Index (EGDI). The EGDI is a composite indicator based on the weighted average of its three sub-indexes, namely: Telecommunications Infrastructure, Human Capital, and Online Services.

The sub-index “Telecommunications Infrastructure” considers the deployment of the infrastructure required for internet access in households, the use of the internet by people, and the penetration of mobile phones. The sub-index “Human Capital” gathers information about the educational level of the population, with the literacy rate and the average school attendance years, among others. The sub-index “Online Services” is mainly composed of the offer of services to the citizens and the citizenship-State interaction opportunities.

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Links of interest:

Access the United Nations E-Government Survey 2022  (English version)

Access the United Nations E-Government data visualizer

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