by Darrell M. West, Center for Public Policy

Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912-1977

Darrell_West@brown.edu

(401) 863-1163

September, 2003

Executive Summary

A Note on Methodology

Online Information

Services Provided

Services by Top Nations

Privacy and Security

Security by Top Nations

Privacy by Top Nations

Disability Access

Foreign Language Access

Ads, User Fees, and Premium Fees

Restricted Areas

Public Outreach

Top E-Government Countries

Differences by Region of World

Conclusions

Appendix

Table A-1 E-Government Rankings by Country, 2003

Table A-2 E-Government Country Ratings, 2002 and 2003

Table A-3 Individual Country Profiles for Services, Privacy, Security, and Disability Access, 2003

Table A-4 Individual Country Profiles for Foreign Language Translation, and Ads, 2003

Table A-5 Best Practices of Top Government Sites, 2003

This report presents the third annual update on global e-government, i.e., the delivery of public sector information and online services through the Internet. Using a detailed analysis of 2,166 government websites in 198 different nations, we measure the information and services that are online, chart the variations that exist across countries, and discuss how e-government sites vary by region of the world. We also see how the 2003 results compare to 2001 and 2002.

In our analysis of websites, we look for material that would aid an average citizen logging onto a governmental site. This includes material enabling a citizen to find information, services, and databases, features that would facilitate e-government access by special populations such as the disabled and non-native language speakers, interactive features that would facilitate outreach to the public, and visible statements that would reassure citizens worried about privacy and security over the Internet. During the course of our study, we look at a wide variety of political and economic systems, from monarchies, federated systems, and presidential democracies to parliamentary systems, dictatorships, and communist countries. In each system analyzed, we employ the same type of criteria in order to be able to compare the results across countries.

The data for our analysis consist of an assessment of 2,166 national government websites for the 198 nations around the world (see Appendix for the full list of countries). We analyze a range of sites within each country to get a full sense of what is available in particular nations. Among the sites analyzed are those of executive offices (such as a president, prime minister, ruler, party leader, or royalty), legislative offices (such as Congress, Parliament, or People's Assemblies), judicial offices (such as major national courts), Cabinet offices, and major agencies serving crucial functions of government, such as health, human services, taxation, education, interior, economic development, administration, natural resources, foreign affairs, foreign investment, transportation, military, tourism, and business regulation. Websites for subnational units, obscure boards and commissions, local government, regional units, and municipal offices are not included in this study. The analysis was undertaken during June, July, and August, 2003 at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Tabulation for this project was completed by Adam Deitch, Vanessa Wellbery, Joanne Chiu, Erica Dreisbach, Toby Stein, Fredi Chango, Umut Ones, Irina Paley, and Yen-Ling Chang. National government website addresses can be found at www.InsidePolitics.org/world.html.

The regional breakdowns for the websites we studied are 21 percent from Western European countries, followed by 17 percent from Africa, 12 percent from Asia, 11 percent Eastern Europe, 8 percent the Middle East, 8 percent South America, 7 percent Pacific Ocean countries (meaning those off the Asian continent, 6 percent from Central America, 6 percent North America (which included Canada, the United States, and Mexico), and 5 percent Russia and Central Asia (such as the areas of the former Soviet Union).

Regardless of the type of system or cultural background of a country, websites are evaluated for the presence of various features dealing with information availability, service delivery, and public access. Features assessed included the name of the nation, region of the world, and having the following features: online publications, online database, audio clips, video clips, non-native languages or foreign language translation, commercial advertising, premium fees, restricted areas, user payments, disability access, privacy policy, security features, presence of online services, number of different services, digital signatures, credit card payments, email address, comment form, automatic email updates, website personalization, personal digital assistant (PDA) access, and an English version of the website.

For e-government service delivery, we look at the number and type of online services offered. Features are defined as services only if the entire transaction can occur online. If a citizen has to print out a form and then mail it back to the agency to obtain the service, we do not count that as a service that can be fully executed online. Searchable databases count as services only if they involved accessing information that result in a specific government service response.

Where national government websites are not in English, our research team employed foreign language readers who translate and evaluate national government websites. In some cases, we have made use of foreign language translation software available online through http://babelfish.altavista.com. Some of the non-English websites are assessed in part through English translations of portions of the websites.

In looking at specific features of government websites, we want to see how much material was available that would inform citizens. Most agencies have made extensive progress at placing information online for public access. Eighty-nine percent of government websites around the world offer publications that a citizen could access (up from 77 percent in 2002), and 73 percent (down from 83 percent last year) provided databases.

Most public sector websites do not incorporate audio clips or video clips on their official sites. Despite the fact that these are becoming much more common features of e-commerce and private sector enterprise, only 8 percent of government websites provide audio clips and 8 percent have video clips. A common type of audio clip is a national anthem or a musical selection.

Fully executable, online service delivery benefits both government and its constituents. In the long run, such services have the potential to lower the costs of service delivery and make services more widely accessible to the general public, because they no longer have to visit, write, or call an agency in order to execute a specific service. As more and more services are put online, e-government will revolutionize the relationship between government and citizens.

Of the websites examined around the world, however, 16 percent offer services that are fully executable online, which is up from 12 percent in 2002. Of this group, 9 percent offer one service, 3 percent have two services, and four percent have three or more services. Eighty-four percent have no online services.

The most frequently found service on government websites are forms for making complaints, ordering publications, applying for jobs, applying for passports, and renewing vehicle licenses.

North America (including the United States, Canada, and Mexico) is the area offering the highest percentage of online services. Forty-five percent (up from 41 percent last year) had fully executable, online services. This was followed by Asia (26 percent), the Middle East (24 percent), the Pacific Ocean islands (17 percent), and Western Europe (17 percent). Only 1 percent in Russia/Central Asia, 5 percent in Africa, and 6 percent of sites in Eastern Europe offer online government services.

One of the features that has slowed the development of online services has been an inability to use credit cards and digital signatures on financial transactions. On commercial sites, it is becoming a more common practice to offer goods and services online for purchase through the use of credit cards. However, of the government websites analyzed, only 2 percent accept credit cards and one-tenth of 1 percent allowed digital signatures for financial transactions (similar to last year). Among the sites having a capacity for digital signatures are the Singapore governmental office of statistics and Denmark's portal site.

Of the 198 nations analyzed, there is wide variance in the number of online services provided by different governments. The country with the largest number of services is Singapore, with an average of 7.8 services across its government agencies. This is followed by the United States (4.8 services), Turkey (3.2 services), Hong Kong (3.1 services, and Taiwan (2.4 services). It is important to keep in mind that our definition of services included only those services that were fully executable online. If a citizen has to print out a form and mail or take it to a government agency to execute the service, we do not count that as an online service.

Public opinion surveys in various countries place concerns over privacy and security at the top of the list of citizen worries about e-government. Having visible statements outlining what the site is doing on privacy and security are valuable assets for reassuring a fearful population and encouraging citizens to make use of e-government services and information. However, few global e-government sites offer policy statements dealing with these topics. Only 12 percent (about the same as the 14 percent in 2002) of examined sites have some form of privacy policy on their site, and 6 percent have a visible security policy. Both of these are areas that government officials need to take much more seriously. Unless ordinary citizens feel safe and secure in their online information and service activities, e-government is not going to grow very rapidly.

Despite the importance of security in the virtual world, there are wide variations across nations in the percentage of websites showing a security policy. The countries most likely to show a visible security policy are Singapore (90 percent of its sites), Canada (65 percent), and the United States (62 percent). This was followed by Australia (39 percent), New Zealand (30 percent), St. Lucia (25 percent), Great Britain (21 percent), Japan (15 percent), and Taiwan (12 percent). Most other nations do not have sites with a security statement.

Similar to the security area, there are widespread variations across the nations in providing privacy policies on their websites. The countries with the highest percentage of websites offering a visible privacy policy are Australia and Dominica (each with 100 percent of its sites). These nations were followed by Canada (97 percent), Singapore (93 percent), China (83 percent), United States (75 percent), St. Lucia (50 percent), New Zealand (47 percent), Great Britain (45 percent), and Taiwan (42 percent). Most other countries do not offer privacy statements online.

This year, we altered our test of disability access by examining the actual accessibility of government websites, not just claims of accessibility. In the past, we looked at whether sites displayed TTY (Text Telephone) or TDD (Telephonic Device for the Deaf) phone numbers which allows hearing-impaired individuals to contact the agency by phone, provided text labels for graphics, or claimed that they were disability-accessible. This approach has the obvious disadvantage of not providing an actual test of accessibility so this year we use the automated online "Bobby" service at http://bobby.watchfire.com to test actual accessibility.

We use the standard of compliance with the Priority Level One standards recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). For this test, we enter the URL of the particular agency being evaluated and use this "Bobby" analysis to determine whether the website complies with the W3C guidelines. Sites are judged to be either in compliance or not in compliance based on the results of this test.

According to this test, 14 percent of government websites are accessible to the disabled. This is lower than comparable numbers for the United States national government (47 percent), U.S. state government (33 percent), and U.S. urban government (20 percent).

Fifty-one percent of national government websites have foreign language features that allow access to non-native speaking individuals. By foreign language feature, we mean any accommodation to the non-native speakers in a particular country, such as text translation into a different language. Many have no language translation on their site other than their native tongue.

Many nations are struggling with the issue of how to pay for electronic governance. When defining an advertisement, we eliminate computer software available for free download (such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, Netscape Navigator, and Microsoft Internet Explorer) since they are necessary for viewing or accessing particular products or publications. Links to commercial products or services available for a fee were included as advertisements as were banner, pop-up, and fly-by advertisements.

As shown below, only 2 percent of government websites in 2003 rely on ads (down from 8 percent last year). There also is little reliance on (0.2 percent) or premium fees (0.2 percent).

The countries with the greatest reliance on advertisements include Sri Lanka, Tuvalu, Bhutan, Antigua, and Guinea-Bissau (each with 100 percent of its government websites having ads). This is followed by St. Vincent (50 percent), Belize (50 percent), and Russia (37 percent).

Examples of ads include the Laos Ministry of Tourism (hotel booking services), Maldives Tourism (advertisement for advertisers), Mongolia Foreign Affairs (mongolmedia.com), Pakistan Railway (advertisements for advertisers), Paraguay Tourism (Portugal Investment portugalinbusiness.com pop-up), Russian Federation Agriculture, Information, Economy, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Railway Transport, Tourist Office (Rambler's Top 100, spylog.com, and love boat singles cruise), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Nat'l Broadcasting (newmontrosehotel.com), Tuvalu Portal (allcasinoworld.com and jane's oceana page), Uruguay Portal/President (ITUraguay.com-"It's business. It's Uraguay."), Uruguay Tourism (vacation planning web sites with large banner ads for vende Uraguay), Belize Tourism and Trade (Radisson, KPMG, law offices), Vietnam Finance (accounting firm banner ad), Vietnam News Agency (magazine and newspaper advertising and econet banner ads), Yugoslavia Investment/Export (real estate services, KPMG banner ads), Bhutan Portal (tourist agencies), Taiwan Transport/Communications (tourist agencies and television station), Antigua and Barbuda Portal/Tourism (TNT Vacations, Jolly Roger Pirate Ship banner ads), Germany Environment (banner ad), Guinea-Bissau Portal (Intership Limited shipping company and WorldNews ads), Iran Tourism (travel agencies, private e-greetings site), Kazakhstan Economy (geocities pop-up), Kenya Investment Promotion (search-related ads), Korea Portal (correctkorea.net, learn to speak Korean online, travel agency banner ads), and Kyrgystan Mineral Resources (jewellernet.ru).

For user fees, the nation with the greatest employment is Taiwan, with 8 percent of its sites having user fees. Other nations relying on user fees are Oman (5 percent of its sites), Singapore (3 percent), and Switzerland (3 percent).

The only countries having premium fee areas are Afghanistan (100 percent), Barbados (25 percent), Taiwan (8 percent), and Canada (3 percent).

There has been no increase in countries having restricted areas on their websites that require a username and password for accessibility. This year, 6 percent of government websites across the world have restricted areas, the same as last year.

Examples of countries with website restricted areas include the Congo (100 percent of its sites), Madagascar (50 percent), Cook Islands (50 percent), Taiwan (42 percent), China (33 percent), Kuwait (33 percent), United States (30 percent), Oman (26 percent), Laos, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, and Iran (each with 25 percent),

E-government offers the potential to bring citizens closer to their governments. Regardless of the type of political system that a country has, the public benefits from interactive features that facilitate communication between citizens and government. In our examination of national government websites, we look for various features that would help citizens contact government officials and make use of information on websites.

Email is an interactive feature that allows ordinary citizens to pose questions of government officials or request information or services. In our study, we find that 84 percent (up from 75 percent in 2002) of government websites offered email contact material so that a visitor could email a person in a particular department other than the Webmaster.

Thirty percent offer areas to post comments (other than through email), the use of message boards, and chat rooms. Websites using these features allow citizens and department members alike to read and respond to others' comments regarding issues facing the department. Twelve percent (up from 10 percent last year) of government websites allow citizens to register to receive updates regarding specific issues. With this feature, web visitors can input their email addresses, street addresses, or telephone numbers to receive information about a particular subject as new information becomes available. The information can be in the form of a monthly e-newsletter highlighting a prime minister's views or in the form of alerts notifying citizens whenever a particular portion of the website is updated. One percent of sites allow websites to be personalized to the interests of the visitor, and two percent provide personal digital assistant (PDA) access.

In order to see how the 198 nations ranked overall, we create a 0 to 100 point e-government index and apply it to each nation's websites based on the availability of publications, databases, and number of online services. Four points are awarded to each website for the presence of the following features: publications, databases, audio clips, video clips, foreign language access, not having ads, not having premium fees, not having restricted areas, not having user fees, disability access, having privacy policies, security policies, allowing digital signatures on transactions, an option to pay via credit cards, email contact information, areas to post comments, option for email updates, option for website personalization, and PDA accessibility. These features provide a maximum of 76 points for particular websites.

Each site then qualifies for a bonus of 24 points based on the number of online services executable on that site (1 point for one service, two points for two services, three points for three services, and on up to twenty-four points for twenty-four or more services). The e-government index runs along a scale from zero (having none of these features and no online services) to 100 (having all features plus at least 24 online services). Totals for each website within a country were averaged across all of that nation's websites to produce a zero to 100 overall rating for that nation.

The top country in our ranking is Singapore at 46.3 percent. This means that every website we analyzed for that nation has nearly half of the features important for information availability, citizen access, portal access, and service delivery. Other nations that score well on e-government include United States (45.3 percent), Canada (42.4 percent), Australia (41.5 percent), Taiwan (41.3 percent), Turkey (38.3 percent), Great Britain (37.7 percent), Malaysia (36.7 percent), the Vatican (36.5 percent), and Austria (36.0 percent). The Appendix lists e-government scores for each of the 198 countries, plus comparisons between 2002 and 2003.

There are some differences in e-government by region of the world. In looking at the overall e-government scores by region, North America scores the highest (40.2 percent), followed by Asia (34.3 percent), Western Europe (33.1 percent), Pacific Ocean Islands (32.1 percent), Middle East (32.1 percent), Eastern Europe (32.0 percent), Russia and Central Asia (29.7 percent), South America (29.5 percent), Central America (28.6 percent), and Africa (27.6 percent).

In looking at regional differences by particular feature, North America, Asia, and the Middle East rank most highly on services, while North America, Russia, and South America score highest on access to databases. The areas providing the greatest degree of accessibility through personal digital assistants (PDAs) is the Middle East.

To summarize, we find that progress has been made over the past year in the extent to which helpful material has been placed online. More countries have put a number of services online. For example, Singapore and the United States are two countries that are especially impressive in the range of e-services provided. The web site with the best access to services (and with the most number of services of all web sites evaluated) was the "eCitizen" site of Singapore (www.ecitizen.gov.sg). The site offers a total of 104 services ranging from inquiring about housing loans to applying for a visa.

In evaluating international website performance, however, there were a number of problems. The difficult that most impeded efficient browsing was the slow loading speed of many sites. Slow servers made it very difficult and time-consuming to effectively ascertain information about a country and almost impossible to execute online transactions.

In addition, sites that do not have privacy policies should post them; those that do should make them more visible. Whereas the expectation is that a link to a privacy policy is included on the bottom of every page of a web site, this was often not the case. On some sites, use of a site's search option was required to find the privacy policy. Many sites have legal statements like disclaimers or copyrights that define the webmaster or government's legal liabilities. They rarely include pertinent details regarding the rights of the user.

Many web sites have links to "services" and "e-services" that are not actually either. These links typically lead a user to details about a manual service offered by the department or ministry or to a form in PDF-format that one can download and then mail in. While a step toward online government, the fact that these documents are not fully executable online limits their utility.

Some sites boasted that they were approved by the "Bobby" disability access test, but were not accessible in reality. Others had special links to disability-friendly versions of the site that also did not pass the Bobby test. Overall, few international websites were accessible for the disabled. While disability access is an e-government priority in some countries, it is obviously not considered when most countries design and edit their web sites.

The most emphatic recommendation in regard to many sites is regular updates. Many web sites were blatantly outdated, both in appearance and content. Though updated aesthetics are not necessarily imperative, old information is not very useful. Some sites included a "Last Updated On" date that rendered the site unaltered for more than three or four years. The inclusion of the date on which a site was last updated is a valuable means by which a site can maintain citizen interest, unless, of course, this option proves a web site ancient.

Some web sites offered the ability to e-mail some or all members of a department or ministry directly from the site, without the need for the user to have his or her own e-mail address. By clicking on the name or address of an employee, the citizen is directed to an online comment form. Such an option increases the accessibility of the site and does not limit the response options to those with e-mail addresses.

Many international web sites include "Kid's Pages"-parts of the site with games, interactive quizzes, and animated characters aimed at attracting and educating children. Though a few of these sections proved unhelpful, many have interesting and informative content.

Note: The following table shows e-government rank orderings for the 198 countries, from most highly ranked to least highly ranked.

Note: The following table shows the percentage of websites in each country that have each feature, such as online services, publications, databases, privacy policies, security policies, and disability accessibility.