E-Government? Just 20% Of Bulgarian Citizens Obtain Information From The Websites Of Public Authorities

According to a Eurostat explanation, the term e-Government refers to the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in public administration services. One key aspect of e-government involves the interaction between individuals or enterprises and government operations through ICT – for example,  the acquisition of information from the website of public authorities or completion of an administrative procedure through electronic means. 

Now, a new publication by Eurostat reveals that in 2019 only 44% of EU citizens had obtained information from government websites. This is still a somewhat meaningful increase of 11 percentage points compared to the reports from 2008.

Looking at the distribution by age, we can see that people 25-34 years old tend to use the websites of public authorities more often – with 56% of citizens in this group reporting to have done it.

Apparently, government websites are most popular in Northern Europe: 89% of citizens in Denmark, 84% of citizens in Finland, 79% of citizens in Sweden, and 76% of those in the Netherlands say that they have obtained information from the sites of public authorities in the last 12 months. To the opposite side, just 9% of Romanian citizens report to have done it. Such behavior has not been a frequent occurrence in Bulgaria as well – with only 20% of the country’s citizens sharing that they use the websites of public authorities.