The United Arab Emirates is the country with the third best digital government in the world. According to a new report, the country’s digital government stands out with its quality service, as well as with high citizen satisfaction.
The report was published by Accenture and it includes a ranking of the top digital governments today. It is based on different criteria like service maturity, citizen service delivery experience and citizen satisfaction.
The list was topped by Singapore, while the second spot went to Norway. That means that the United Arab Emirates is the highest-ranked Middle East country on the list. Saudi Arabia can also be seen further down the ranking on the fifth position.
The study has found that most of the countries in the top 10 have made a sustained investment in their digital government. Singapore (1), for example, wants to create an electronic health record for each of its citizens. In addition, all of these countries are not only encouraging feedback from citizens, but they are actually listening to what they have to say. In other words, they actively engage and communicate with people. In fact, in Norway, for instance, nearly 80% of the citizens think that the government has to consult with them before changing anything in their country’s public services.
Also, the countries that were ranked at the top spots on the list, like Singapore (1), Norway (2), the UAE (3), South Korea (4) and Saudi Arabia (5), excel in other areas. According to the report, their digital government strategy is well-integrated into the country’s public reform and government agenda. In addition, the leaders in the ranking view the digital system as a long-term investment and not simply as a one-time effort.
Here is the list of the 10 countries with the best digital government rankings:
- Singapore
- Norway
- UAE
- South Korea
- Saudi Arabia
- U.S.
- U.K.
- India
- Germany
- Brazil
Even though these countries impress with their digital strategy, more than 80% of their citizens believe that their government should offer more digital services. Also, another 64% want better social media communication and engagement with their governments. In addition, around 40% of them are not happy with the quality of their country’s public services.
However, the survey found that less than 40 percent of the citizens surveyed are satisfied with the quality of public services their country currently provides. That is mainly the case in more mature markets like the U.K. and the U.S. There, governments are experiencing some budget problems. As a result, they are often forced to cut down their digital government budgets.
Nevertheless, the United Arab Emirates seem to make good exception. Around 80% of the country’s citizens think that their communication with the digital government is very effective. Also, most of them believe that their opinions and recommendations are being taken into consideration.
