Denmark retains its strong position within public digitisation, according to new EU survey

Today, the European Commission has published the result of the yearly survey eGovernment Benchmark. The survey assesses 36 countries progress within public digitisation and shows that Denmark retains its strong position.

The eGovernment Benchmark studies public digitisation from a citizen-centric perspective and assesses how citizens experience the user journey in different digital services. Examples of this include coherent user journeys for life events such as having a child, studying or starting a business.

NemID, Digital Post and mobile friendly solutions brings Denmark to the front

Denmark performs especially well in that NemID and Digital Post can be used for the majority of digital services. For example, NemID can be used when citizens or businesses need to pay the car registration tax, declare tax conditions, or change of residence. The report underlines that when many public services can be reached through a single eID solution, it is easier for citizens and businesses to gain access and overview of their relevant matters.

For many years, all levels of government in Denmark have worked together to expand the use of NemID and Digital Post in public digital services. I am very happy to see that this work shows in the survey. We also have a strong focus on making public digital services easier for citizens to use all the time. Therefore, in recent years we have put a lot of work into making the public digital solutions usable on mobile phones and tablets. It is really positive and motivating that our work with digital mobile solutions is already bearing fruit and being noticed in the EU context.

Rikke Hougaard Zeberg, Director-General of the Agency for Digitisation

Public digitisation that creates results and benefits

The report highlights that Denmark as much as 9 out of 10 public digital services are mobile-friendly. Digital services become more accessible when citizens and businesses can access them from different types of devices. Examples of websites the report has examined include borger.dk, skat.dk and virk.dk. The report shows that the Danish public services are generally very user-friendly (user centricity), and mobile friendliness is one of the reasons for this.

However, the report also indicates that it must be easier for citizens and companies from other European countries to use Danish digital solutions. It is both about making Danish services available in eg English, but also that the foreign users can either use NemID or their own national eID to gain access to Danish digital services. EU countries are working together to implement the Single Digital Gateway Regulation, which aims to ensure access to digital services across borders.

Lack of transparency in certain digital solutions - as the report also points out - shows how important it is to constantly put the user at the center. The development of digital user journeys must not only focus on the solutions being easy to access and use, but also on the necessary information being provided along the way, so that users are informed about, for example, the legal basis built into the solution. It is a constant challenge in the digital transformation that all authorities developing digital solutions must focus on.

Overall, Denmark, together with nine other countries, lands in the best of four categories, where public digitization delivers results and creates value - so-called Fruitful eGov. Examples of other countries doing well in the survey include Estonia, Latvia and Finland

Read more about the survey at European Commission’s website