Turkey's e-government development scores high: UN

Turkey showed a high level of e-government development performance and ranked 53rd in the world, according to the United Nations this week.

The UN E-Government Survey 2018 showed that the country's place in the e-government development index (EGDI) -- which measures the use of information and communications technologies to deliver public services -- climbed 15 spots from the 68th place in 2016.

The EDGI value can be between 0 (lowest) and 1 (highest), as it is "a weighted average of normalized scores on the three most important dimensions of e-government".

"The scope and quality of online services as indicated by the online service index (OSI), the status of the development of telecommunication infrastructure rated through the telecommunication infrastructure index (TII) and the inherent human capital scored through the human capital index (HCI)."

According to the UN data, Turkey's EGDI value was 0.7112 this year, while the figure was 0.5900 two years ago. Regarding the sub-items, the country got 0.8889 score in the OSI, 0.4298 in the TII, and 0.8148 in the HCI this year.

Turkey's Transport and Infrastructure Minister Mehmet Cahit Turhan told Anadolu Agency that over the past 18 months many studies have been carried out to determine the digital services in line with the bureaucracy reduction plan.

"In this process, more than 1,600 services were integrated to e-government," Turhan said, adding: "We are accelerating our efforts to offer all digital services until the end of this year."

- Global scale

Pointing out the first attempt to benchmark the state of e-government in 2001, the UN noted that it has been growing rapidly over the past 17 years.

"The 2018 survey highlights a persistent positive global trend towards higher levels of e-government development," it said. "In this edition, 40 countries score very-high, with EGDI values in the range of 0.75 to 1.00, as compared to only 10 countries in 2003, and 29 countries in 2016."

"Since 2014, all 193 Member States have been delivering some form of online presence," it said, noting that Denmark, Australia, and South Korea are the top countries in the EGDI this year.

"Since 2016, Denmark has been implementing its digital strategy 2016-2027, setting the course for Danish public-sector digitization efforts as well as their interaction with businesses and industry,

"This strategy is aimed at building the basis for a strong and secure digital Denmark."

The UN stated that Australia kept its position in 2016 and ranked second this year, adding that the country tops in HCI and stands among top 10 in OSI.

Speaking about South Korea's third spot in the EGDI, the UN said: "The country performed well in online service and technology infrastructure, but its human capital development was relatively low compared to other top ranked countries."

"The country facilitates convenient, efficient, and transparent government in enhancing citizens' satisfaction and government productivity and is constantly improving to provide better government services to its citizens in the face of rapid technology changes," it said.