The UN are measuring the development of e-government in its member states by using an index. According to the homepage of the UN's Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government the so-called E-Government Development Index (EGDI) "presents the state of E-Government Development of a state. Along with an assessment of the website development patterns in a country, the E-Government Development index incorporates the access characteristics, such as the infrastructure and educational levels, to reflect how a country is using information technologies to promote access and inclusion of its people. The EGDI is a composite measure of three important dimensions of e-government, namely: provision of online services, telecommunication connectivity and human capacity."
Among the European small states in consideration, Estonia made yet another jump from 20 (2010) to 3rd position in the UN's 2020 EGDI ranking. Only Denmark and the Republic of Korea are (still) ahead of Estonia.
Iceland barely misses out on the top ten and is ranked 12th in 2020, 10 places better than ten years before. Cyprus improved even more, jumping up from 42 to 24. Malta is not that far away (number 22), while Liechtenstein lost a few ranks (-8) as did Luxembourg (-8). Montenegro, Andorra and San Marino rank below the 70 top E-Government states.
Table: European small states' ranking in the UN E-Government development Index (EGDI) 2020
Small State |
Rank 2020 |
EGDI 2020 |
Rank Change (2010 to 2020) |
Estonia |
3 |
0.9473 |
+17 |
Iceland |
12 |
0.9101 |
+10 |
Cyprus |
18 |
0.8731 |
+24 |
Malta |
22 |
0.8547 |
+8 |
Liechtenstein |
31 |
0.8359 |
-8 |
Luxembourg |
33 |
0.8272 |
-8 |
Montenegro |
75 |
0.7006 |
-15 |
Andorra |
80 |
0.6881 |
-23 |
San Marino |
96 |
0.6175 |
+88 |
If we take a closer look, we'll see that Estonia has pushed hard in the last decades to become a world-leading "e-nation". E-voting has been introduced in Estonia already back in 2005 with remarkable success, and Estonia remains one of the few countries where voters can cast (almost) every vote electronically. Moreover, there is a digital ID, a digital signature, and digital access to almost all public services. Additionally, draft legislation can be consulted digitally, while petitions to the parliament and local governments can be put through electronically.
Iceland too introduced a digital ID and a digital signature. E-voting is possible in local (municipal) elections. Almost all public services are digitally accessible.
While essentially all states enabled some form of digital consultation of draft legislation and made some or even most public services accessible through the Internet, e-voting is nowhere else available than in Estonia and Iceland. In some countries ordinary petitions can be sent by email though. An e-ID exists in Estonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein (introduced in spring 2020), Luxembourg, Malta, and Montenegro.