In the 2024 United Nations e-Government Survey, Georgia showed slight improvements in its e-government and e-participation development scores. However, its rankings in both indexes declined, with the country dropping nine places in the e-government index and five places in e-participation. When compared to global trends and regional counterparts, Georgia's progress in this area, particularly in providing online services, appears to be slow.
- In the e-government ranking, Georgia holds 8th place among the 11 neighboring countries of the Eastern Partnership and the Baltic States. However, in the online services component, Georgia lags behind all other countries in the group.
- In terms of e-participation, along with its decline in the global ranking, Georgia also performed poorly compared to other countries in the region, surpassing only Belarus and Azerbaijan in this area.
- For the first time since 2016, growth in the human capital component has stalled, with the country's score in this area declining by 0.03 points.
- In the evaluation of local online services, both Tbilisi's score and its international ranking have worsened. As of 2024, Tbilisi ranks ahead of only Baku, Chișinău, and Minsk among the region's cities.
- The study emphasized the need for adopting policy documents on artificial intelligence and other automated tools to facilitate their integration into the public sector. In this regard, Georgia has made no significant progress.
Georgia’s Results in the Rankings
According to the 2024 assessment, Georgia's e-government score is 0.78, placing the country 69th out of 193 nations. Two years ago, with a score of 0.75, Georgia ranked 60th. While Georgia improved its score by 0.03 points in 2024, its ranking dropped by 9 positions. This decline can be attributed to the faster pace of development in other countries compared to Georgia in this area.
In terms of e-participation, Georgia improved its score by 0.03 points, but its ranking dropped by 5 positions. Specifically, in 2022, Georgia had a score of 0.53 and ranked 72nd. According to this year’s data, the score has increased to 0.56, while the country's global ranking fell from 72nd to 77th.
Notably, the top ten countries in the ranking and their scores are as follows: Denmark (0.98 out of 1), Estonia (0.97), Singapore (0.969), South Korea (0.967), Iceland (0.967), Saudi Arabia (0.96), the United Kingdom (0.957), Australia (0.957), Finland (0.957), and the Netherlands (0.953). Interestingly, in the previous assessment in 2022, Saudi Arabia ranked 31st. According to the report, Saudi Arabia has significantly improved its e-governance by integrating artificial intelligence and blockchain technology into public administration, boosting its ranking by 25 places over the past two years.
The top positions in the e-participation index are as follows: Ukraine (1 point out of 1), Japan (0.98), Denmark (0.98), South Korea (0.97), Germany (0.97), the United Kingdom (0.97), Estonia (0.96), Iceland (0.96), Saudi Arabia (0.96), and Singapore (0.96). Ukraine's score stands out, as the country achieved the maximum score in this index and improved its position by 56 places compared to the previous assessment. According to the report, public-private partnerships have played a significant role in Ukraine's digital transformation over the past two years. Collaboration with major digital companies such as Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, SpaceX, and Palantir Technologies has enabled Ukraine to implement modern technologies and infrastructure. During the war, the government transferred all public data and services to foreign cloud platforms to enhance digital security and resilience, while utilizing satellites to ensure continuous internet access nationwide.
Georgia's results significantly lag behind the average scores of European countries, with the e-government index averaging 0.84 and the e-participation index averaging 0.72.
Among the 11 neighboring countries in the Eastern Partnership and the Baltic States, Georgia ranks 8th in e-government and 9th in e-participation. For comparison, in 2022, Georgia held 7th place in the e-government ranking among the same countries and maintained its 9th position in e-participation. A detailed analysis of Georgia's results in relation to these countries is provided below.
According to this year's results, in the e-government component, Georgia surpasses only Moldova, Azerbaijan, and Belarus. In terms of e-participation scores, Georgia only exceeds the results of Belarus and Azerbaijan.
The 2024 United Nations study summarized the results of e-governance development over the past two years. While Georgia's scores have slightly improved in both indexes, the country's decline in global ranking indicates a significant slowdown in development in this area. Given this context, it is essential for the government to establish a more ambitious agenda that considers the latest international trends and innovative approaches to e-governance.
Based on the country's performance, it is crucial to ensure greater online accessibility of services, encourage their use, increase internet access, address digital inequality, expedite the implementation of e-governance systems in Georgia's regions, introduce new technologies, enhance data accessibility, and establish standardized protocols for open data availability.
Notably, Georgia has not had a digital governance strategy since 2018. In 2024, a public consultation was announced regarding the Digital Governance Strategy document for 2024-2029, but the strategy has yet to be approved.
The E-Government survey is conducted biennially by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, specifically by the Public Institutions and Digital Government Division (DPIDG). This is the only study in the world that evaluates two rankings across 193 UN member countries: the e-government development index and the e-participation index.
The aim of the UN study is to assess global trends in e-government development and the existing challenges.
As part of the e-Government Development Index, researchers assess countries in three areas:
1. Online services are assessed based on the various government websites available in the country, with particular attention given to the existence of national portals, e-services, and engagement platforms. Notably, Georgia has experienced a significant drop in this component, with a score decrease of -0.1, resulting in the current score of 0.57, the lowest the country has recorded in this area. With a score of 0.57, Georgia falls significantly behind the average scores of Europe (0.78), Asia (0.64), and the world (0.58).
In addition to the national assessment of the e-government index, from 2022, it also evaluates the online services of the most populated cities in each country. In Georgia's case, the index assessed Tbilisi. The capital received a lower score of 0.59 in 2024 compared to its 2022 score of 0.65. The city's global ranking also worsened by 12 positions, now occupying 62nd place among cities in 193 countries.
2. The development of telecommunications infrastructure includes several sub-components: the number of internet users, the number of wireless broadband internet users, mobile internet pricing, and more. While Georgia's score has increased by 0.2 compared to the previous assessment, the country's rating still lags behind the European average (Georgia - 0.91; Europe - 0.92). Notably, Georgia received the lowest score in this component for mobile internet pricing, which significantly trails both the average prices in Asia and Europe, as well as the global average (Georgia - 1, World - 5). Georgia also falls behind the regional and global averages in the pricing of fixed internet services.
3. Human capital refers to the population's potential to effectively utilize new technologies. Since 2016, this indicator for Georgia has been consistently on the rise. However, according to this year's report, the assessment of this component has decreased by 0.03 points compared to the previous year.
The e-participation index reflects the government's readiness to facilitate citizen involvement in governance processes with the help of new technologies. In assessing this component, experts consider the following three factors:
1. E-Information: How accessible is Public information online, free of any preconditions;
2. E-Consultation: To what extent do citizens have the ability to engage in the public policy-making process.
3. E-Decision-Making: To what extent is the Government supporting citizens participation in the decision-making process and to what extent are these types of online services developed.
In these three components, Georgia's score has significantly decreased in the e-information and e-consultation categories. For comparison, in 2022, Georgia's score for e-information was 0.71, and for e-consultation, it was 0.43. According to this year's report, the country received a score of 0.44 in the first component and 0.21 in the second. Conversely, there has been a significant improvement in the e-decision-making component, with the score rising from 0.1 to 0.68.
Among Georgia's neighboring countries in the Eastern Partnership and the Baltic States (a total of 11 countries), the best results are seen in the Baltic States, particularly in Estonia, as well as in Turkiye and Ukraine. Over the past two years, Armenia (with an increase of 0.1), Turkiye (0.09), and Ukraine (0.08) have demonstrated the most significant growth in the e-government index.
To assess the progress of these countries in relation to Georgia, it is essential to examine their achievements in each component of the e-government index. While Georgia ranks 8th among the aforementioned 11 countries, its score in the online services component (0.57) lags behind all other countries. This indicates that, in terms of the implementation and utilization of online services, Georgia significantly trails not only behind international trends but also regional ones.
In the region, Georgia holds a relatively better position in the human capital component, ranking 5th among the 11 countries. The best results in this component are seen in Estonia, Turkiye, Lithuania, and Latvia.
Georgia has also demonstrated relatively good results in the telecommunications infrastructure component, ranking 6th among the 11 countries in the region. Despite this ranking, the percentage of internet users in Georgia remains low compared to other countries. Specifically, approximately 78% of the population uses the internet in Georgia, whereas the average in Europe stands at 89.49%. In this regard, Georgia only surpasses Armenia and Moldova among its regional peers. Latvia, Estonia, and Russia lead in terms of the percentage of internet users. These figures indicate that Georgia has significant steps to take to enhance internet accessibility.
In the global ranking for e-participation, Georgia has experienced a positional decline, achieving a low score of 0.56, which only surpasses Belarus and Azerbaijan among regional countries. In this index, the most significant growth in the region has been seen in Ukraine (+0.4 points, ranking first globally), Lithuania (+0.3 points, 21st globally), and Armenia (+0.3 points, 48th globally).
According to the 2024 report, the global average score for the e-government index has significantly improved over the past two years. This progress can be attributed, on one hand, to the active digitalization policies of various countries and, on the other hand, to the implementation of artificial intelligence and other automated tools in the public sector. Consequently, despite improvements in Georgia's scores in both e-government and e-participation, the country's position in the global ranking has declined.
In light of global trends, the report places Georgia among the countries with high telecommunications infrastructure and human resource indices. While Georgia also ranks among the countries with high scores in the e-government index, further steps are needed for its development trends. These steps include:
1. Improving Telecommunications Infrastructure: Enhance the telecommunications infrastructure, promote internet accessibility (including lowering costs), and fully digitalize public services.
2. Developing Legislative Frameworks: Create relevant legislative frameworks for digital development, particularly in advanced technologies.
3. Strengthening E-Decision-Making Processes: Enhance the e-decision-making process and ensure greater public participation in policy formulation.
4. Addressing Digital Inequality: Rectify digital disparities among regions.
5. Enhancing Cybersecurity: Strengthen cybersecurity measures.
6. Establishing Digital Strategies: Develop digital strategies and ensure their effective implementation.
7. Utilizing New Technologies: Leverage new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and blockchain, particularly in the development of smart city concepts.
The report highlights that the lack of appropriate legislative frameworks and policy documents hinders the implementation of artificial intelligence and other automated tools in the public sector. Georgia is among the countries that lack a general vision or strategy for the use of artificial intelligence, as well as any policy documents for the integration of such technologies in the public sector. Therefore, it is essential to work in this area to ensure that the country does not fall behind this new global trend.
The 2024 UN report summarizes the results of electronic governance development over the past two years. Although Georgia improved its scores in both the e-government and e-participation indices, it experienced regression in the global rankings for both areas. In light of this, it is crucial to enhance the online accessibility of services, encourage the use of these services, increase internet accessibility, eliminate digital inequalities, and enforce the implementation of e-government systems across Georgia's regions. Additionally, establishing uniform standards for the accessibility of open data is essential.
Moreover, the country must begin developing policy documents for artificial intelligence and create a systematic vision in this direction. According to the report, the implementation of artificial intelligence and other automated tools in the public sector has significantly contributed to the advancement of digital governance in several countries. To achieve this, it is essential to have appropriate legislative frameworks, a unified vision, and the political will to support these initiatives.
Presentation of Liziko Abzianidze's Diary
03.10.2024
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