Iceland in 7th place in European survey

Iceland ranks number seven among European countries in digital public services according to the annual survey made by the European Union. The survey covers 36 countries, with Iceland rising four places between years and fast approaching the goal of being among leading nations in digital public services, with the focus on user experiance.

The result shows that Iceland is well above the average in three out of four categories. It also reveals what needs to be kept in mind to further improve digital services and work on these issues has already begun. The goal is for Iceland to strengthen its position further in this field in the coming years.

The survey grade (eGovernmet Benchmark) is based on four main categories:

• User-centred services. It is assessed whether the service is digital, mobile friendly and how good the support is. Iceland is in 5th place with 96 percentage points, well above the average of 88 percent.

• Transparency. It assesses whether the digital service processes are transparent and whether the user is involved in the process and has a good overview. Iceland is in 3rd place with 85 percentage points, again well above the average of 64 percent.

• Core services. The availability of the basic systems and services of the public sector is assessed. An example of such a service is the digital mailbox on Ísland.is. Iceland is in 6th place with 89 percentage points, well above the average of 61 percent.

• Cross-border services. This will assess how digital services benefit users in other countries. Among other things, whether information on services can be accessed in a language other than Icelandic and whether electronic identification can be used across borders, which is one of the key issues among European Union nations. It is of great benefit for Icelanders to be leaders in this field, despite being outside the European Union. Iceland ranks 14th in this category, with 54.8 percentage points, while the average is 65 percent.

Iceland.is is considered one of the best public service portals

In the survey results, Iceland.is service portal is named as one of the 8 best public service portals. Iceland sits in second place in the use of electronic documents, following Estonia, which is the leader in the field.

Further information about the survey.

Icelands digital policy.