People increasingly use the internet to carry out their daily tasks. Over the past years, the use of e-Government has also gained popularity as it enables citizens to obtain information at any moment or carry out administrative tasks remotely.
In 2020, 47% of people in the EU aged 16-74 had obtained information from the websites of public authorities during the last 12 months prior to the survey. This share increased substantially compared with 2008 (33%).
Citizens of all ages use public authorities’ websites to obtain information. The share of people that reported to have done this in the last 12 months was highest among the 25-34 years old (59%), followed closely by those 35-44 years old (56%). Although older citizens were less likely to use public authorities’ websites to get information, more than a quarter (26%) of citizens aged 65-74 had used government websites for this purpose in the last 12 months.
Source dataset: ISOC_CIEGI_AC
The development of e-Government and the availability of online information for citizens varies considerably across the EU Member States.
In 2020, the highest shares of people that used the websites of public authorities to obtain information in the last 12 months were recorded in Denmark (89%), Finland (85%), the Netherlands (81%) and Sweden (79%).
In contrast, only 10% of citizens in Romania had obtained information from public authorities through their websites. This was also not common in Italy and Bulgaria (both 19%).
Source dataset: ISOC_CIEGI_AC
This article marks the Open Data Day, an annual worldwide event aiming to show the benefits of open data and encourage the adoption of open data policies in government, business and civil society.
On this occasion, you might also want to learn more about the European Union Open Data Portal (EU ODP). This portal provides access to an expanding range of data from the EU institutions and other EU bodies, including Eurostat data on the digital economy and society used in this article.
For more information:
- The data in this article are based on the annual survey on use of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) in households and by individuals. For more information on the statistics available in this area, take a look at the overview of statistics on the digital economy and society.
- Data in the database are organised according to the survey year; the results above refer to individuals’ experiences during the calendar year prior to the survey; i.e. the calendar year prior to the first quarter of 2020. Hence, data refer mainly to the situation before the COVID-19 pandemic started. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the fieldwork had to be postponed or extended, and timing of this 12-month reference period varies across countries.
- EU data estimated; Belgium low reliability; France, Italy, Switzerland: 2019 data.
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