E-Government Readiness Index
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About
The E-Government Readiness Index (EGDI) is a composite measure of the capacity and willingness of countries to use e-government for ICT-led development. The EGDI has been updated annually by the United Nations Public Administration Programme (UNPAP) since its creation in 2003. It covers all Member states of the UN. The EGDI looks at the most important dimensions of e-government: (i)scope and quality of online services, (ii) telecommunication connectivity, and (iii) human capacity. Government’s efforts are ranked but countries size, infrastructure availability and ICT penetration, and the level of education and skill development are taken into account. Closely connected to the survey, the UNPAP also produces an E-Participation Index.
Methodology
The index rates the performance of national governments relative to one another by averaging three other indices: the Online Service Index, the Telecommunication Index and the Human Capital Index. The maximum possible value is one and the minimum is zero. Though the basic model has remained constant,the precise meaning of these values varies from one survey to the next as understanding of the potential of e-government changes and the underlying technology evolves. [1]
Mathematically, the EDGI is a weighted average of three normalized scores on the most important dimensions of e-government, namely: scope and quality of online services, telecommunication connectivity, and human capacity. Each of these sets of indexes is itself a composite measure that can be extracted and analysed independently:
EGDI = (0.34 × online service index) + (0.33 × telecommunication index) + (0.33 × human capital index)
Online Service Index
Each country’s national website and the websites of the ministries of education, labour, social services, health and finance were visited to assign values to survey responses.
Among other things, the national sites were tested for a minimal level of Web content accessibility as described in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium.
Telecommunication Index
The telecommunication infrastructure index is a composite of the following five indicators:
- number of personal computers per 100 persons
- number of Internet users per 100 persons
- number of telephone lines per 100 persons
- number of mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 persons
- number of fixed broadband subscribers per 100 persons.
Human Capital Index
The human capital index is a composite of two indicators:
- adult literacy rate
- the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrollment ratio.
The indicators are aggregated in a complex manner so that relative comparisons of least performers matter.
Results
The 2010 edition of the e-Government Development Index ranked the Republic of Korea first, followed by the United States and Canada. On the e-Participation Index, the Republic of Korea ranks first, followed by Australia and Spain.[2]
References
- ↑ United Nations (2010), "E-Government Survey 2010: Leveraging e-government at a time of financial and economic crisis", Department of Economic and Social Affairs, New York.Statistical Annex. Retrieved at: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan038851.pdf
- ↑ UN Public Administration Programme, "United Nations E-Government Survey 2010", accessed on 27 June 2011 at: http://www2.unpan.org/egovkb/global_reports/10report.htm
