The Institute of Digital Government at
Waseda University, Tokyo in cooperation
with the International Academy of CIO (IAC)
has released the results of its 15th
International Digital Government rankings
surveyThe15th WASEDAInternational Digital
Government
Rankings Report
September 9 .2020

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface ............................................................................................................................. 1
I.

Overall Ranking ................................................................................................... 1

II.

Digital Government Ranking by Indicators and Sector Analysis .................... 7

1. Network Preparedness/Digital Infrastructure......................................................... 9
2. Management Optimization ..................................................................................... 9
3. Online Services/ Applications ................................................................................ 9
4. National Portal/Homepage ................................................................................... 10
5. Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO) .................................................. 10
6. Digital Government Promotion.............................................................................11
7. E-Participation/ Digital Inclusion .........................................................................11
8. Open Government Data ....................................................................................... 12
9. Cyber Security...................................................................................................... 12
10.
III

The use of Emerging ICT ................................................................................. 13

Digital Government Ranking by Organizations and Regions ......................... 14

1. Ranking of APEC Economies（Countries and Areas）.................................. 14

2. Ranking of OECD Countries ............................................................................... 14
3. Ranking in European Countries ........................................................................... 15
4. Ranking in Africa, the Middle East, and CIS Countries ...................................... 16
IV Methodology ............................................................................................................ 17
1. Formulation .......................................................................................................... 17
2. Processes of Evaluation ....................................................................................... 18
V Contributors List (● indicate group leader) ........................................................ 20
1. List of Global Experts Group ............................................................................... 20
2. List of Professors and Experts at Institute of Digital Government, Waseda
University ................................................................................................................... 20
3. List of Researchers at Institute of Digital Government, Waseda University ....... 20i

List of Tables:
Table I-I: Waseda Digital Government Overall Ranking ......................................... 2
Table II-I: The Main Indicators and Sub-Indicators ................................................. 7
Table II-II: Top 10 Countries by selected Individual Indicators ............................... 8
Table Ⅲ-I: Digital Government Ranking in APEC Economies ............................. 14
Table Ⅲ-II: Digital Government Ranking in OECD Countries ............................. 15
Table III-III: Digital Government Ranking in European Countries ....................... 16
Table III-IV: Digital Government Ranking in Africa, the Middle East, and CIS
Countries......................................................................................................... 16

List of Figures:
Figure IV-1: Processes Diagram ............................................................................. 19

International Academy of CIO (IAC) has released the resultsof its 15th International Digital Government rankings survey incooperation with the International Academy of CIO (IAC) has
released the results of its 15th International Digital
Government rankings surveyiiPreface
The Institute of Digital Government at Waseda University in cooperation with theInternational Academy of CIO (IAC) has released the 15th Waseda World Digital
Government Rankings Survey 2019/20. which marks the digital transformation in many
countries. The Institute was established in 2002 and this ranking survey model was
created in 2005 by Prof. Dr.Toshio Obi, a Founder of the Institute and President of IAC
at that time.to announce the First Ranking Survey. Dr. Obi was awarded as the honor on“The most world influential 100 people in Digital Government in 2018” by UK based
Think tank. Now Both the Institute and the ranking survey are managed by Prof. Dr.
Naoko Iwasaki of Waseda University. We hope this survey will be able to contribute toits value to all parties concerned.
We have now faced the serious COVID-19 all over the world and we are sure that
Digital Government can be one of effective solution on the pandemic issues. It is wellnoted that this edition is extremely significant as the 15th memorial anniversary ranking
report. We appreciate Dr.Nguyen Manh Hien at APEC Digital Government ResearchCenter for his great contribution

Drs Toshio Obi and Naoko Iwasaki

I. Overall Ranking
No

Total
Rankings

1

USA

2

Denmark

3

Singapore

4

UK

5

Estonia

6

Australia

7

Japan

8

Canada9South Korea

10

SwedenScore

NoTotal Rankings

Score

No

Total
Rankings

Score

96.2874
94.60523

Russia45

Colombia62.6534

24

Austria

74.0162
73.17346

Bahrain62.0807973.138372.32347

Israel61.7557

48

Mexico61.74937
71.062
370.56449

Chile

61.0108

50

Brazil60.39507
69.117
568.76851

Lithuania

58.658152

Morocco58.5974668.3093
67.927

53

Saudi Arabia

57.1383

54

Uruguay

55.6577767.850266.52155

Kenya

55.1985

56

South Africa

53.98302
66.4558
66.10357

Egypt

53.8839

58

Argentina

53.20564
65.983
4
65.96259Peru

53.0257

60

Fiji

52.4778665.014
3

61

Tunisia

47.67213
93.4972
92.1291
91.541788.3792
88.244
3
88.210386.932
1
82.43025

Belgium

26

Thailand

27

Italy

28

Ireland

29

Spain

30

Malaysia

31

Brunei32

Georgia

11

Taiwan12

Norway382.067
481.503

35

Macau

14

New
Zealand
Switzerland

780.655380.30936

Philippines

15

Finland

37

China

16

Hong Kong9
79.684978.155

38

Czech

17

Germany

4
77.9193

39

Poland13

33

Portugal

34

Turkey1

18France19

Kazakhstan

20

Netherlands

21

Iceland22

UAE

77.168076.96940

Indonesia

41

Romania3
76.272
676.182

42

Oman

43

India

8
75.770644

Vietnam64.708264.52362

Pakistan

44.3656

63

Nigeria

43.00472
64.0571
63.93264

Costa Rica

38.85491
63.2493

Table I-I: Waseda Digital Government Overall Ranking
Waseda Digital Government Rankings have been introduced since 2005. The
rankings of 2019/20 mark the 15-year milestone of the Digital Government rankings foraudients, researchers, and policymakers in each country. The Waseda Digital Government
ranking is an overview of Digital Government development in 64 countries around theworld. The rankings show the development strategies, policy implementation, and publish
online services. Due to the limited resources, the rankings kept 64 countries for evaluation,
reduce one country compared to the last year. In the coming years, we will endeavor to
expand the rankings, in order to gain a better overview of each area for the Digital
Government development.
In the rankings, the methodology is kept for evaluation. The raw data are collectedfrom 10 main indicators and 35 sub-indicators. The collected data was analyzed andevaluated by researchers and cross-checked through discussions and experts’ meetings
twice a year.
In the top 10 of the 15th Waseda Digital Government Rankings is the USA in the firstplace, following is Denmark in the second place, Singapore ranked for 3rd and downturned
from the 2nd last year to 3rd place. The rankings also marked the first time Singapore is in
the 3rd place after fourteen-time is in the first and second place. The UK ranked for 4th
following are Estonia, Australia, and Japan in the 5th, 6th, and 7th place respectively. The
2019/20 rankings show that Canada returned in the top 10 of the most developed digital
government countries and ranked for 8th. South Korea downturned to 9th place for the firsttime in 2019/20 and Sweden is the last nation in the top 10.
The 15th digital government rankings mark the US returned to the first place after
five years since 2014 and jumped five steps compared to the rankings last year. The US
digital strategies are still based on (1) Increasing mobile 5G business; (2) Ensure that as
the government adjusts to this new digital world; (3) Unlock the power of government
data to spur innovation. In order to focus on AI to streamline operations, in 2019 theWhite House issued the Executive Order on Maintaining American Leadership in AI lastyear and announced the American AI Initiative, a national strategy “to sustain andenhance the scientific, technological and economic leadership position of the UnitedStates in AI R&D and deployment.”
Denmark ranked for 2nd after one year of leading on the digital government in Waseda
rankings. Compared to the rankings last year, Denmark received a higher score in eparticipation and cybersecurity indicators. In Denmark, the new digital strategy runs up2

to 2020 and covers local, regional, and also the central government. It will help shape thedigital Denmark of the future and ensure that the public sector can seize the technologicalopportunities to create added value, growth, and efficiency improvements while
maintaining the confidence and trust of Danes in the digital society. The new strategy sets
the course for Danish public sector digitization efforts and their interaction withbusinesses and industry. The strategy is also a more efficient public sector, newtechnology, and digital welfare solutions that have already empowered the elderly to live
more autonomously and with a greater quality of life.
The 15th digital government rankings have many changes in order compared toprevious years, especially in the top 10. Singapore is a typical example, the rankings showthat this is the first year Singapore ranked for 3rd. Singapore keeps a high score in mostindicators, but all other countries in the top 5 have a positive change in all indicators. In
Singapore, digitalization a key pillar of the Government’s public service transformation
efforts. Their vision is to create a Government that is “Digital to the Core, and Serveswith Heart”. A Digital Government will be able to build stakeholder-centric services thatcater to citizens’ and businesses’ needs.
The UK ranked in 4th place, which slipped down compared to the last year. National
Portal and Open Government are two main indicators that have decreased. It makes theUK's position is not as expected. However, based on the evaluation from 10 indicators
the UK has already made good progress for the development. The strategy for the digital
government in the period 2017 - 2020 is structured around these 5 objectives, it helps thegovernment works better for everyone.
This year, Estonia is ranked 5th, compared to the last year, even in some indicatorsthat have not received a full score (e-Government promotion and Open government data)
but Estonia has made a big impression on the global stage. As of 2020, Estonia is the only
country in the world where 99% of the public services are available online. Estonia hasreached an unprecedented level of transparency in governance and built broad trust in its
digital society. 2019/20 is also the year marks the Estonian government introduces
Government AI strategy and Cloud, which makes Estonia the most digital country in theworld and taking the next step in its digital evolution to expand its ICT society.
Australia marked a big jump in the top 10 of the rankings when it ranked for 10thfrom last year to 6th place this year. A new digital transformation strategy was released in
November 2018, thanks to this strategy, it helps to improve government services and theAustralian government also expects that by 2025, Australia will be one of the top 3 digital
governments in the world for the benefit of all Australians.
Compared to the last year, Japan keeps the same position in 7th place. In July 2019the ministry established the METI Digital Transformation (DX) Office with aiming to
improve the convenience of administrative services for corporate bodies and tosystematically advance policy planning based on data and service improvement. It has
3been called the “One-stop, once-only” service. In rankings, management optimization andopen government data are two indicators that got a higher score compared the last year
rankings.
Canada has a big jump in the 15th digital rankings. Last year, Canada was not in the
top 10, even it ranked 16th. There have been many efforts carried out by the Canadiangovernment to improve Digital Government. The newest Digital Operation Strategic Plan
for 2018-2022 focuses on the establishment of the integrated direction for the government
on digital transformation, service delivery, security, information management, andinformation technology. In 2019/20 also marked the government updates for the Canada
Cloud Adoption Strategy, in which the government expects to expand online services andminimize the cost of applications and infrastructure.
In the bottom of the top 10 are South Korea and Sweden, South Korea slipped from6th place to 9th place in the rankings. In 10 main indicators, “National Portal” and “Theuse of Emerging Technologies” are two indicators receive lower score compared to thelast year rankings. It makes South Korea’s position in overall rankings is lower than lastyear’s rankings. By improving eGovFrame Portal, it has been applied to 702 egovernment projects at a local, central, and integrated management system for providing
businesses with policy information. Following South Korea is Sweden and tied at 10th,
compared to last year rankings, Sweden slipped from the 8th to the 10th. In March 2019the cybersecurity action plan was issued at government agencies level. The joint action
plan contains 77 of the most important measures that are scheduled to begin
implementation in 2019, it helps Sweden got a higher score in terms of cybersecurity
indicator. The Nordic Mobility Action Program is continuing to implement in 2019/20,
besides that the Swedish government cooperates with other countries in Nordic and Baltic
to speed up the implementation of the eIDAS project. In which, Nordic and Baltic citizens
will be able to use their national electronic IDs to access public services when they moveto, work in, or study in any other country in the region. Based on the application of digitaltransformation, the Swedish government and the local authorities and region want toimprove social services and health care to 2025 with the vision to 2025 Sweden will be
best in the world at using the opportunities offered by digitization and eHealth to make iteasier for people to achieve good and equal health and welfare.
There is not much change for the position from 11th to 30th except UAE andKazakhstan. Most countries in this group are European countries such as Norway,
Switzerland, Germany, France, Netherlands, Iceland, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, andSpain. Thailand and Malaysia are the only two representatives from Southeast Asia. UAE
and Kazakhstan have the strongest promotion in digital government activities. A series ofplanning have been implemented which brings two countries getting closer to the top 15of the Waseda digital government rankings.

4

In recent years, the UAE has been one of the fastest-growing digital governments. In
2018, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) launched the UAE digital
government maturity project. The project focuses to develop Digital government
readiness and create a Digital government maturity framework, which includes (1) Global
digital maturity models, (2) UAE federal and local digital maturity models, (3) UAE
leadership in smart government, (4) The UAE Strategy for the Fourth Industrial
Revolution, (5) UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, (6) National Innovation Strategy,and (7) Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021. With the introduction of this model, the UAE
government has come a long way in promoting online services, as well as applying it toprovide health services to improve quality and become among the best countries in theworld in terms of quality of healthcare to 2021. In 2019, the UAE government updated
the National Cybersecurity Strategy, which aims to create a safe and strong
cyberinfrastructure in the UAE in order to serve the digital transformation in UAE.
Kazakhstan government has approved “Digital Kazakhstan” with the main missionof the program to improve the quality of life of residents and the competitiveness of thecountry's economy, through the use and development of digital technologies. The programis planned for two vectors of development: “Digitalization of the existing economy” inthe medium term and “Creating a digital industry of the future” in the long term. The 120
planned events of the program will form the basis of the digital sector as a new branch of
the economy and will be implemented in five directions: “Digitalization of economic
sectors”, “Transition to a digital state”, “Realization of the digital Silk way”, “andDevelopment of human capital” and “Creation of an innovative ecosystem”. Since theprogram affects all spheres of life and is aimed at improving the standard of living of
every resident of the country, the beneficiaries of its implementation will be citizens,business entities and government agencies of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
There is not much change in the position for the countries from the 31st to the 50th.
Most of them are developing countries from Eastern European countries such as theCzech Republic, Romania, and Georgia. In which, Georgia has made a great step forward
compared to the last year's rankings. Some countries from Southeast Asian such as Brunei,
Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam. In particular, Brunei leads the Southeast Asian
countries in this group. Brunei has a big jump in overall rankings compared to the 2018’s
rankings. At the bottom of this group are Colombia, Chile, and Brazil representative forSouth American countries.
In 15th digital government rankings, Brunei marks a positive change in digital
government activities. In 2015, the government proposed 6 years’ programs for Brunei
digital government strategy, in which they focused to promote digital services to 2035 tosupport the high standard of living, become a world-class of infrastructure and highgrowth. Thanks to the digital transformation, Brunei’s citizens can access to multiple
online services by using the only e-Darussalam account. When deploying digital
government services, the Brunei government focuses on (1) service innovation, (2)5security, (3) Capability and Mind-set, (4) enterprise information management, (5)Optimization, and (6) collaboration and integration.
At the bottom of the 2019/20 overall rankings, Fiji, Tunisia, Pakistan, Nigeria, andCosta Rica ranked for 60th, 61st, 62nd, 63rd, and 64th respectively. There is no informationon the digital government in Venezuela. Therefore, in total the Waseda digital government
rankings have only 64 countries.
In this group, Fiji has significant progress in the development of the digital
government. The digital FIJI is the Fijian Government’s Digital Transformation Program,by improving this program which expects to implement several government applications,enhance the overall ICT infrastructure and build and develop capacity in digitaltransformation in the government. The digital FIJI aims to drive developments andimprovements in the areas that will enable a strong and sustainable development of Fiji’s
Digital Economy, this includes to develop IT infrastructure, ICT capacity, and engage thepublic to stimulate the development of a vibrant, inclusive and sustainable IT industry
and community in Fiji.

6

II. Digital Government Ranking by Indicators and Sector
Analysis
The Waseda Digital Government Ranking relies on comprehensive benchmarking
indicators in order to obtain an accurate and precise assessment of the latest developmentsof D-Government in the ICT section of all targeting countries. Ten main indicators are
currently used to carry out the Waseda Digital Government Ranking survey. The tablebelow shows all ten indicators and their thirty-five sub-indicators.
Indicators
1. Network(NIP)

Sub-indicators
1-1 Internet Users
1-2 Broadband Subscribers
1-3 Mobile Cellular Subscribers

Preparedness/Infrastructure

2. Management Optimization/ Efficiency(MO)

2-1 Optimization Awareness
2-2 Integrated Enterprise Architecture
2-3 Administrative and Budgetary Systems

3. Online
Services
Applications (OS)3-1 E-Procurement
3-2 E-Tax Systems
3-3 E-Custom Systems
3-4 E-Health System
3-5 One-stop service/

Functioning

4-1 Navigation
4-2 Interactivity
4-3 Interface
4-4 Technical Aspects
5-1 GCIO Presence
5-2 GCIO Mandate
5-3 CIO Organizations
5-4 CIO Development Programs

4. National Portal/Homepage (NPR)

5. Government CIO (GCIO)

6. D-Government Promotion (EPRO)

6-1 Legal Mechanism
6-2 Enabling Mechanism
6-3 Support Mechanism
6-4 Assessment Mechanism

7. E-Participation/Digital Inclusion (EPAR)

7-1 E-Information Mechanisms
7-2 Consultation
7-3 Decision-Making

8. Open Government (OGD)

8-1 Legal Framework
8-2 Society
8-3 Organization

9. Cyber Security (CYB)

9-1 Legal Framework
9-2 Cyber Crime Countermeasure
9-3 Internet Security Organization

10. The use of Emerging ICT (EMG)

10-1 The use of Cloud Computing
10-2 The use of Internet of Things
10-3 The use of Big Data

Table II-I: The Main Indicators and Sub-Indicators

7

Network Preparedness

Online Services

No

Country

Score

No

Country

Score

1

Denmark

8.057

1

Canada12.00

2

Iceland7.986

2

Denmark

11.88

3

Norway7.955

3

Iceland11.76

4

Netherlands

7.926

4

Estonia

11.64

5South Korea

7.917

4

USA

11.64

6

Switzerland

7.866

6

UAE

11.40

7

UK

7.817

6

UK

11.40

8

Sweden7.709

8Australia

11.28

9

Germany

7.695

8

New Zealand

11.28

10

France7.679

10Finland

11.22

Government CIO
NoCountry

Score

No

E-Government
Promotion
Country
Score

1Singapore

10.00

1

Singapore

10.00

1

USA

10.00

2

USA

9.677

3

Japan

9.546

2

Kazakhstan

9.677

4

Estonia

9.090

4

UK

9.355

4

South Korea

9.090

4

Japan

9.355

4

UK

9.090

6

Australia

9.032

7

Denmark

8.636

6Denmark

9.032

8Iceland

8.181

8Canada8.709

9Canada7.727

8South Korea

8.709

9

Malaysia

7.727

8

Russia8.709

Open Government Data

Emerging ICT

NoCountry

Score

No

Country

Score

1

Canada

10.00

1

USA

8.000

1

Denmark

10.00

2

Denmark

7.000

1Indonesia

10.00

2

UK

7.000

1

South Korea

10.00

4

Singapore

6.500

1

USA

10.00

4

Germany

6.500

6Australia

9.500

6

Estonia

6.000

6Finland9.500

7Belgium

5.500

6

India

9.500

7

Norway5.500

6Netherlands

9.500

7

Switzerland

5.500

6

New Zealand

9.500

7

Taiwan5.500

Table II-II: Top 10 Countries by selected Individual Indicators

8

1.

Network Preparedness/Digital Infrastructure

The first indicator that is used for evaluation of digital government in the WasedaIAC digital government rankings is “Network Preparedness”. The National Portal is ameasure for internal and external connections in one country. Internet users are always animportant sub-indicator for assessing application services online in a country. Nowadays,
with the development of wireless broadband, especially 5G. It has been deployed andapplied in many countries. Which expands high-speed connectivity, changing
infrastructure with large bandwidths, it will be of great help for developing countries in
adopting and pursuing digital government strategies, and also reduce the information gap
between developed countries.
Norway has adequate infrastructure for ICT network and digital government whichallows for system interoperability and data interchange between administrations,
government agencies, and departments. The use of the Internet is widespread andcontinues to grow amongst rural areas outside of big cities. The government is focusedon rewarding private industry for continually expanding its ICT infrastructure andemphasis on “Green IT” solutions in order to contribute a healthier environment foreveryone.
2.

Management Optimization

Management Optimization is a key indicator for Waseda digital government rankings,
which refer to the actions of the government in the application and implementation ofdigital government. It is expressed through the implementation of projects, strategy for
the ICT application development. Apply new technologies in accelerating online services
to citizens. Setting policies and system architecture is also a factor that every government
needs to consider in moving to a digital model. This indicator reflects the utilization of
ICT for improving government business processes and internal processes (back office ineach organization). Management optimization is a significant indicator of Digital
Government development because it relates to optimization awareness, enterprisearchitecture (EA), and also the administrative management system.
To realize the importance of digital transformation, since 2018 the Australian
government has made significant progress for digital transformation by 2025. The
strategy aims to create a digital identity system for users. The Australians using the digital
ID for receiving personalized services. The digital ID was introduced in March 2019
covering services including grants management, business registration, and student
services. The Australian government expects with this digital strategy will deliver worldleading digital services for the benefit of all Australians by 2025.
3.

Online Services/ Applications

E-Services are the primary indicator in the development of digital government. The
outcome of the Digital government is e-Services or products/services that the government
9

introduces to citizens, making e-Service as the interface of digital government. The
growth of a nation in the digital government is measured by the increase in online services
and the level of services (information, download form, transaction, and e-payments). The
Waseda digital government ranking is currently evaluating five major online services ofcountries including e-procurement, e-tax, e-custom, one-stop service, and e-health. These
are basic services for online services. To cover better and evaluate online services, in the
coming rankings will expand more online services.
2019/20 marks for the first time UAE ranked in the top 10 of Waseda digital;
government rankings in terms of online services. By improving the UAE digital
government maturity model, and introducing many online services covering business,
personal, and service bundle. UAE got a full score in most sub-indicator for online
services with full transaction levels.
4.

National Portal/Homepage

National Portal (one-stop service) is defined as a place where the government
integrates all e-services and makes them accessible via one gateway. It is also a primaryinterface for stakeholders to access the government electronically. Through the national
portal, governments offer many benefits to users of public services—from citizens andbusinesses to the public administrators themselves—including faster, cheaper, andsuperior services. In the public sector, a one-stop service is one of the most promisingconcepts of service delivery in public administration. National Portal implementation is
included in the Digital Government strategies in most countries.
Singapore has always been at the top one in Waseda digital government rankings for
15 years. Not only the top 1 in the overall rankings, Singapore always leads in all
evaluation indicators. GovTech is the government department responsible for theplanning, implementation, and implementation of digital government. GovTech builds
key digital platforms and infrastructure to support Singapore’s Smart Nation initiatives.
As one of Singapore’s Smart Nation Strategic National Projects, the National Digital
Identity (NDI) ecosystem aims to provide convenience and security for citizens andbusinesses when they transact online. The NDI is a common and universal trust
framework for public and private sectors to build value-added digital services. A smart
nation is a digital government development strategy in Singapore. A smart nation where
the government wants people, businesses are empowered through increased access to data,
more participatory through the contribution of innovative ideas and solutions.
Furthermore, the platform for Smart Nation will be one of the anchor initiatives that will
enable everyone and everything, everywhere, to be connected all the time in Singapore.
5.

Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO)

In the first version of Waseda digital government rankings, GCIO was introduced asa critical indicator in evaluating of digital government in each country. The CIO is10

expected to align management strategies with ICT investment in order to achieve abalance among business strategy, organizational reform, and management reform. This
indicator is aimed to evaluate the role of the director of information technology inplanning, developing strategies, and implementing digital government, as well astransforming the traditional management model into applications of digital technologies(digital transformation).
Together with Singapore, the USA is ranked for 1st place for the GCIO indicator. In
the US the CIO Council is a forum of Federal Chief Information Officers (CIOs) with thegoal is to improve IT practices across U.S. Government agencies. CIO.gov is where theGovernment CIO shares priorities, key technology policies, news, and the programs andevents for the development of ICT and digital government. The government CIO leads
digital transformation efforts and implementing digital technology, research, andworkflow methodology to transform federal agencies' agility and digital landscape. In theUSA, the government CIO develops and leads the execution of cybersecurity strategy andsolutions to address the issues that concern federal agencies and supports clients in
multiple cybersecurity fields, such as policy, governance, risk management, endpoint
security engineering. Government CIO helps businesses to develop cutting-edge
scientific analyses, simulations, and data visualizations.
6.

Digital Government Promotion

This indicator measures a government’s activities toward the promotion of Digital
Government and distribution of e-Services to citizens, businesses, and other stakeholders.
It includes activities involved in supporting the implementation of Digital Government
such as legal frameworks and mechanisms (laws, legislation, plans, policies, andstrategies). In other words, the government carries out these activities in order to support
the development of e-Services as well as the Digital Government as a whole.
In 2019/20, Japan ranked for 4th in digital government promotion indicator. Throughthe media, the government has introduced the promotion of the services and utilities ofusing the internet to deliver public services. Workshops on digital government are also
regularly held, in addition to combining with the top University in terms of CIO anddigital government training. It keeps, the digital government action plan will be updated
and followed.

7. E-Participation/ Digital Inclusion
E-Participation is the application of ICT to expand and increase participation in adigital government building. It allows people to connect, give opinions to the government
in the implementation of a digital project, making the process more transparent and moreconsistent. Processes may concern administration, service delivery, decision-making, andpolicy-making.
11

Along with Canada, Denmark, Singapore, and the USA, Estonia is one of the fivecountries sharing the No. 1 for the e-participation indicator. Over the past 5 years, Estonia
has become a phenomenon in developing digital government. Along with thedevelopment of broadband across the country, Estonia also focuses on the formulation ofstrategies, as well as digital government policies. Typically, the Digital Agenda 2020 for
Estonia, in which the Estonian government develops information society and increase
cybersecurity. Thanks to these policies, it attracted 46.7% of people participating using
the internet for voting and the number of e-residents in 2019 is 62,000. Besides that, 99%of the Estonian population uses e-ID, now 99% of government services have been
digitized.
8. Open Government Data
Open Government Data is a measure of the publicity and openness of certain
government data to citizens and businesses, as well as to other governments. To encourage
its use and reuse data sources transparently and efficiently.
In 2011, Denmark joined the international initiative “Open Government Partnership”(OGP), which serves to promote good governance and strengthen democracy bypromoting transparent and inclusive governance. The first Danish Open Government
action plan was launched in 2012 in which to focus was to improve digital public service
for citizens and businesses as well as improve transparency and accountability in publicprojects and processes. The second Open Government action plan was introduced in 2013
which focused on Local democracy, digital communication, and new forms ofcollaboration. The newest Open Government action plan was covered for the period 20172019, in which the government commits to (1) More and better open data for citizens,shared data to a public distribution platform, open data for Denmark; (2) Tailored data toensure a basis for citizen participation; (3) Working together for a better public sector;and (4) A global effort for openness.
Indonesia is an example of Open government policy in developing countries. This isalso the first year marking Indonesia in the top 10 of the Open Government data indicator.
The Indonesia Open Government Partnership National Action Plan 2018-2020 is started
with the formulation of grand challenges aiming for Village, Health, Education, Poverty,
and Economic sectors through a long process. In 2018, the Indonesian government
launched the Open Government Indonesia National Action Plan with 14 commitments
and 46 milestones.
9.

Cyber Security

In Korea, various laws, regulations, and guidelines promote cybersecurity, such as
the Act on the Promotion of IT Network Use and Information Protection (Network Act),and the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). The Network Act plays an importantpart in promoting cybersecurity in terms of protecting personal information and12enhancing data security in the context of IT networks. The PIPA acts as a general law on
personal data protection that is applied in combination with the Network Act to all
incidents of data privacy infringement, including cyberattacks and data leaks. In 2019
rankings, South Korea got a full score in terms of Cybersecurity, higher compared to last
year's ranking.
10. The use of Emerging ICT
In the first stage, the government uses information technology for public reform. The
next step is to use the Internet and telecommunication networks to transfer services to all
citizens and businesses. Nowadays, with the development of many new technologies suchas IoT, it does not only help people access government services through computers,
phones, tablets, and thousands of other devices. Cloud computing helps the governmentand citizens to connect easier. Big data helps the government expand data to optimize
services. Therefore, the emerging of these technologies always requires the highest
priority and should be implemented by the government.
Compared to last year's rankings, Taiwan still keeps the position in the top 10, there
is no change in terms of evaluation score. But during one year, the Taiwanese government
has some actions to promote using the technology of big data, IoT, and AI in thegovernment departments. To serve the citizen better, the government introduced “Civil
IoT Taiwan” which is one of the government’s “forward-looking infrastructure-digitalconstruction”. The program gathers and integrates the big data of earthquakes, water
resources, air quality, and disaster prevention, the government can promote thetransformation of the digital city to a smart city. The program helps the government insmartly preventing and effectively recurring disaster. Enhancing people’s life quality andprotecting people's safety from the threats of natural disasters, support data science
industries with the IoT infrastructure, and also provide firsthand sensing data to theacademic community.

13III. Digital Government Ranking by Organizations andRegions
1. Ranking of APEC Economies
APEC Economies（Countries and Areas）
APEC Economies

APEC Economies

No

Economies

Score

No

Economies

Score

No

Economies

Score

1

USA

96.287

8

New Zealand

80.65515

China

65.983

2

Singapore

93.497

9Hong Kong78.155

16

Indonesia

64.7083

Australia

88.397

10

Russia74.016

17

Vietnam

63.2494

Japan

88.244

11

Thailand

72.32318

Mexico61.7495

Canada88.210

12

Malaysia

68.76919

Chile

61.011

6

South Korea

86.932

13

Brunei68.30920

Peru53.026

7

Taiwan82.06714

Philippines

66.103

Table Ⅲ-I: Digital Government Ranking in APEC Economies
Australia was initially quick to join the global digital government trend. The first
Electronic Transactions Act was introduced in 1999. Through more than 20 years ofdevelopment, the Australian digital government has gained many important achievements.
The newest Digital Transformation Strategy was launched in 2018 with the aiming todeliver world-leading digital services for the benefit of all Australians. In this project, thegovernment focuses on 3 strategic priorities (1) government that easy to deal with, (2)government that’s informed by you, and (3) government that’s fit for the digital age. The
strategy is accompanied by a clear roadmap that includes key projects and milestones to2020 and some of the major transformation opportunities to 2025.
Brunei has a big changed in the position of digital government rankings this year,
compared to other economies in the group. To realize the growth of technology, the Brunei
government has been quick to adopt new tools in their current business processes anddrive to increase the efficiency, effectiveness, quality, and accessibility of informationand services that will contribute to economic and social growth. Since 2015, the Brunei
government has digital government strategy to 2020 in order to drive by the Wawasan
2035, in which the government expects to see Brunei Darussalam recognized everywherefor (1) The accomplishments of its well-educated people, (2) The quality of life, and (3)The dynamic, sustainable economy. The mission is to lead the digital transformation andmake government services simpler, faster, and more accessible.
2. Ranking of OECD Countries
OECD Countries

OECD Countries

OECD Countries

No

Country

Score

No

Country

Score

No

Country

Score

1

USA

96.2871180.65521

Ireland70.5652

Denmark

94.605

12

New
Zealand
Switzerland

80.31022

Spain

69.11714

3

UK

92.12913

Finland79.68523

Portugal

67.8504

Estonia

91.542

14

Germany

77.91824

Turkey66.521

5Australia

88.37915

France77.16825

Czech

65.963

6

Japan

88.24416

Netherlands

76.273

26

Poland65.014

7

Canada88.21017

Iceland76.18327

Israel61.756

8

South Korea

86.93218

Austria73.17428

Mexico61.7499

Sweden82.43019

Belgium

73.13829

Chile

61.011

10

Norway81.50420

Italy

71.062

Table Ⅲ-II: Digital Government Ranking in OECD Countries
In this group, the USA changed its position with Denmark compared to the rankings
last year. Followed by the UK, Estonia, and Australia, these countries are in the top 5 inthis group. There is not much change in the top 10 compared to the last year of rankings
except Canada, which has a big jump compared to the 2018 ranking and tied at 7th place.
Japan keeps the same place while South Korea slipped down to the 8th place. In the middleof the group, only Italy has a positive change. At the bottom of this group are Israel,
Mexico, and Chile.
In Canada, the Digital Operations Strategic Plan is the third iteration in the
Government of Canada’s strategic planning process for how we manage technology andtechnological change in government. This Strategic Plan builds on and expands on the
Government of Canada Strategic Plan for Information Management and Information
Technology from 2017 to 2021. Strategic Plan sets and provides insight into thegovernment’s digital direction, especially directly from the CIO of Canada. The Strategic
Plan establishes the integrated direction for the government on digital transformation,
service delivery, security, Information Management, and Information Technology.
Canada has outstanding performance on the indicators of both “Online Service” and “Eparticipation”. As one of the leading nations in the Digital Government area, Canada isstill expected to increase more scores on the latest indicator for the usage of newtechnologies, which is to have an efficient model of adopting emerging technologies suchas Cloud Computing or IoT.
Digital Israel is the government national initiative that focuses on harnessing thepotential of the digital revolution to advance information and communication
technologies for the benefit of accelerating economic growth, reducing socio-economic
gaps and making government smarter, faster, and more accessible to citizens, making
Israel a global leader in the digital domain.
3. Ranking in European Countries
EU Countries

EU Countries

EU Countries

No

Country

Score

No

Country

Score

No

Country

Score

1

Denmark

94.605

8

Germany

77.91815

Ireland70.56515

2

UK

92.1299France77.168

16

Spain

69.117

3

Estonia

91.542

10Netherlands

76.27317

Portugal

67.8504

Sweden82.43011

Iceland76.18318

Czech

65.963

5

Norway81.504

12

Austria73.17419

Poland65.014

6

Switzerland

80.31013

Belgium

73.13820

Romania

64.5237

Finland79.68514

Italy

71.06221

Lithuania

58.658

Table III-III: Digital Government Ranking in European Countries
Denmark, the UK, and Estonia are leading countries in this group. They keep theirposition compared to 2018 ranking. Locate in the 4th in Sweden, Norway in the 5th place,
Switzerland in the 6th place, and Finland in the 7th place. The middle of this group has
appeared in Germany, France, Netherlands, Iceland, Austria, Belgium, and Italy. In which,
Italy has positive progress in the development. Romania and Lithuania rank at the bottomof this group. Compared to last year's rankings, Lithuania still in the same place.
Norway plans to share digital knowledge and expertise with partner countries
through a new Digitalization for development program, whose aim is to build skills andcapacity in partner countries. The program expects to share Norwegian expertise inpublic-sector digitalization, for example through capacity- and institution-building
projects in selected developing countries, including the development of systems for
improved data management and utilization.
4. Ranking in Africa, the Middle East, and CIS Countries
Africa, Middle East & CIS

Africa, Middle East & CIS

Africa, Middle East & CIS

No

Country

Score

No

Country

Score

No

Country

Score

1

Kazakhstan

76.969

6

Oman

64.05711

Kenya

55.1992

UAE

75.7717Bahrain62.081

12

South Africa

53.983

3

Russia74.0168

Israel61.75613

Egypt

53.884

4

Georgia

67.9289Morocco58.597

14

Tunisia

47.672

5

Turkey66.521

10

Saudi Arabia

57.13815

Nigeria

43.005

Table III-IV: Digital Government Ranking in Africa, the Middle East, and CIS
Countries
In Russia, the maturity of services provided through the one-stop portal is more orless uniform among the country regions but has a room for enhanced. The government
aims at least 80% of services to be available through the portal by 2020. Other plansinclude ensuring the services are available irrespective of geographical location,
provision of several channels for service access including mobile access, the internet, callcenters, and on-site service machines. E-Health and E-Learning systems are expected to
be optimized and integrated expanding the services available through the one-stop DGovernment portal to include requests for sick-leave certificates, electronic prescriptions,and electronic inquiries. Cyber Security also will be in the focus of the government in the16nearest years. Implementation of Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing
programs depends on financial capabilities and not clear yet (financial sources andpossible partnerships are under discussions).
South African government has deployed ICT to deliver basic services to its citizens
that reveal progress in the portal of gov.za. The country has been realizing the key role of
ICT in enabling modernized government services and benefits for service delivery, underthe e-Government policy framework to improve the government's efficiency andeffectiveness and make it convenient for citizens to access government services
throughout the country. Gauteng provincial government has been one of South Africa's
most modernized provinces and achieving major e-Government objectives. Gauteng
province, via its well-organized department of e-Government, continues to further
develop digital services on the established ICT infrastructure which can help drive South
Africa's digital economy growth, especially at the local government level.

IV. Methodology
For evaluating digital government development, this ranking survey is based on agroup of indicators to evaluate the overall digital government development in a country,
ranging from policy development and e-Services implementation to management
optimization and digital government promotion. To improve the evaluation of digital
government development in a country, from 2010, the ranking added an e-participation
indicator. In 2014, Open Government Data and Cybersecurity were also added to theranking. In the 2017 Ranking, the research team added “the usage of emerging ICT
technologies”. It makes a total of ten main indicators for evaluation.
Increasing the quality, the assessment used a questionnaire as a tool to obtain some
information from respondents who reside in the countries. The respondents aregovernment officers who work for a ministry that concerns digital government and, tosome extent, respondents from academia who are knowledgeable in digital government.
The questionnaire in the upcoming ranking is mandatory. The score will use the feedback
as additional information to mitigate the sample risk, thus, reducing bias during scoring.
The following diagram shows the due process of creating the ranking.
Waseda International Digital Government Ranking is also based on clustering
methods by classifying countries according to the group, which has been demonstrated
by organizations (APEC, OECD), by the size of population and GDP, by regions (AsiaPacific, Americas, European, Africa, Middle East, and CIS countries).

1. Formulation
The Raw Score is normalized to the 0-100 scale score using the following formula.
17

𝑁𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 =𝑅𝑎𝑤𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒
× 100
𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒

The raw score is the Score generated by averaging Score 0 and Score 1; MaxScore is
the maximum score of the sub-indicators.
This will generate the Normalized Score which ranges 0 – 100. Furthermore, theNormalized Score is recalculated by the weighted rate. The result is the released scorethat will be used as the source for arranging the rank.
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Indicators
Network Infrastructure Preparedness (NIP)
Management Optimization (MO)Online Services (OS)National Portal (NPR)
Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO)
Digital government Promotion (EPRO)
E-Participation (EPAR)
Open Government Data (OGD)
Cybersecurity (CYB)
The emerging technology in Digital government (EMG)

2. Processes of Evaluation
The following process prepares the rankings18

2019/20
NormScore x 10%
NormScore x 12%
NormScore x 12%
NormScore x 8%
NormScore x 10%
NormScore x 10%
NormScore x 10%
NormScore x 10%
NormScore x 10%
Normcore x 8%

StartPreparation

Commencing thesurveyDistributing thequestionnaires

Exploratory Research on
Indicators
By
Country

Analysis
Revision
Governme
nt
Officers

Expert Groups

Cross
Verification

Aug 2019

Sept 2019

Tabulate thescore
Meeting with
International
Organizations

Rankings,
Evaluation

Country Reports

Final Check

Press Release

May 2020

Aug 2020

Sept 2020

Figure IV-1: Processes Diagram
19

V.

Contributors List (● indicate group leader)

1. List of Global Experts Group●Prof. Dr. Toshio Obi, Chairman, Institute of Digital government, Waseda
University, Japan, Honor President, International Academy of CIO, Director of
APEC Digital Government Research Center.
Prof. Dr. J.P Auffret, Chair, MOT/CIO Program of George Mason University,
President of International Academy of CIO.
-

Prof. Dr. Luca Buccoliero, Marketing Department Bocconi University, Italy.

-

Prof. Dr. Suhono Harso Supangkat, Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia.

-

Prof. Dr. Francisco Magno, Director, Institute of Governance De La Salle
University, Philippines.

-

Prof. Fang Chun Yang, Dean, Academy of Digital Government, Peking
University, China.

-

Vice Rector/Associate Prof. Dr. Jirapon Sunkpho, Thammasat University,
Thailand.

-Prof. Dr. Alexander Ryzhov, Presidential Academy of National Economy andPublic Administration (RANEPA), Russia.

-

Prof. Dr. Tomi Dahlberg, Information System, University of Turku, Finland.

-Prof. Pin-yu-Chu, Taiwan e-Government Research Center, Taiwan

2. List of Professors and Experts at Institute of Digital Government, Waseda
UniversityProf. Yukio Kawamura, Waseda

Prof. Dr. Naoko Iwasaki, Waseda
University

University-

Prof. Dr. Tatsuyuki Negoro,
Waseda University--

Prof. Dr. Atsushi Kato, Waseda
University-

Prof. Dr. Yoshio Tozawa,
University of Industrial andScienceProf. Dr. Shujiro Urata, Waseda
University

Prof. Dr. Hiroko Kudo, Chuo
University
3. List of Researchers at Institute of Digital Government, Waseda University


Dr. Nguyen Manh Hien-

Dr. Yao Yang-

Dr. Pingky Dezar Zulkarnain-

Dr. Bandaxay Lovanxay-

Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Anh-

Mr. Eiji Yamada, NTT Data--

LLC Naoko Mizukoshi, Lawyer
20