eGovernment benchmark 2025 : building online, user-friendly, and interoperable services : executive summary.
Date: 2025-06-16
Institutions: Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology
Subjects: European Interoperability Framework, administrative transparency, benchmarking, cross-frontier data flow, digital literacy, digital single market, digital technology, electronic document, electronic government, information security, information technology user, provision of services, public service

eGovernment Benchmark 2025 

Executive Summary 

Building Online, User-Friendly, and Interoperable Services 

Written by Capgemini, Sogeti, IDC and Politecnico di Milano  
for the European Commission Directorate‑General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology 
May – 2025 

DG CONNECT 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
eGovernment Benchmark 2025  

Executive Summary 

Building Online, User-Friendly, and Interoperable Services 

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology 

Directorate B — Digital Decade and Connectivity 
Unit B.2 — Digital Decade Coordination 

Contact: Paola Annoni, Julien Burton and Silvia Beghelli (Project Officers for the eGovernment Benchmark Data Collection) 

E-mail: CNECT-DIGITAL-DECADE@ec.europa.eu  

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 
B-1049 BRUSSEL

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Manuscript completed in May 2025 

1st edition 

PROJECT TEAM 

Capgemini: Niels van der Linden, Sem Enzerink, Jochem Dogger, Stan Vugs, Arman Behrooz & Astrid Verhallen 
Sogeti: Sandrine Cipponeri & Erlend Firth 
IDC: Massimiliano Claps, Fung-Yee Tang & Giorgio Micheletti 
Politecnico di Milano: Giuliano Noci, Michele Benedetti & Giulia Marchio 
Contact: Niels van der Linden (Project Manager eGovernment Benchmark) 

E-mail: niels.vander.linden@capgemini.com 

LEGAL NOTICE 

This  document  has  been  prepared  for  the  European  Commission  however  it  reflects  the  views  only  of  the  authors,  and  the 
European Commission is not liable for any consequence stemming from the reuse of this publication. More information on the 
European Union is available on the Internet (http://www.europa.eu). 

PDF  

ISBN 978-92-68-27473-6 

ISSN 2811-8383 

doi: 10.2759/4871175 

KK-01-25-072-EN-N 

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2025 

© European Union, 2025 

The reuse policy of European Commission documents is implemented by the Commission Decision 2011/833/EU of 12 

December 2011 on the reuse of Commission documents (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39). Except otherwise noted, the reuse of 

this document is authorised under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0) licence 

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This means that reuse is allowed provided appropriate credit is given and any 

changes are indicated. 

For any use or reproduction of elements that are not owned by the European Union, permission may need to be sought directly 
from the respective rightholders. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Executive summary 

Government  services  play a key  role  in  the  lives  of  European  Union  (EU)  citizens, influencing how 
they  live,  work,  study  and  travel.  Therefore,  the  digitalisation  of  these  services  is  a  key  priority. 
Every year, the eGovernment Benchmark provides a comprehensive assessment of the digitalisation 
of public services in Europe, assessing the EU's progress in delivering online services to citizens and 
entrepreneurs.  In  particular,  the  benchmark  tracks  the  EU’s  advancement  towards  achieving  the 
European Commission’s Digital Decade target of providing all public sector services online by 2030. 

The eGovernment Benchmark delineates the latest developments across key digital public services 
in  the  27  European  Union  Member  States  (EU27).  To  measure  whether  public  services  are  online 
and  what  online  features  are  offered,  an  EU-wide  network  of  Mystery  Shoppers  visited  and 
analysed  14,104  websites  over  the  course  of  November  2024.  Their  evaluation  focused  on  98 
services related to 9 life events (key moments in individuals’ lives that rely on services offered by 
different public sector bodies), namely: moving, transport, starting a small claims procedure, family, 
career,  studying,  health,  starting  a  business  and  conducting  regular  business  operations.  The 
assessment  was  based  on  a  robust  methodological  approach,  including  20  indicators  collectively 
providing  insight  into  various  aspects  of  eGovernment  performance  in  different  domains.  These 
indicators  were  assessed  through  51  different  survey  questions,  designed  to  gather  detailed 
information on the performance of digital public services.  

The eGovernment Benchmark indicators feed into the assessment of digital public services across 
three  dimensions,  namely  Online  Service  Delivery,  Interoperability  Signifiers  and  User-Friendly 
Portals. Based on these, the eGovernment Benchmark specifically tracks the two Digital Decade Key 
Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the Digital Public Services dimension: 

1.  Online  provision  of  key  public  services  for  citizens:  This  KPI  measures  the  share  of 
administrative  steps  that  can  be  done  fully  online  for  major  life  events  such  as  moving, 
transport, starting a small claims procedure, family, career, studying, and health. In 2024, 
this  indicator  averages  82  for  the  EU27  Member  States.  For  citizens,  the  Transport  and 
Moving  life  events  are  among  the  highest  performers,  while  the  Family  and  Health  life 
events are among the lowest. 

2.  Online provision of key public services for businesses: This KPI measures the share of 
administrative  steps  needed  to  start  a  business  and  conduct  regular  business  operations 
that  can  be  done  fully  online.  In  2024,  this  indicator  averages  86  for  the  EU27  Member 
States.  The  Regular  Business  Operations  and  Business  Start-Up  life  events  compose  the 
score for digital public services for businesses. While both life events achieve nearly perfect 
scores for national users, they show notable gaps in cross-border online availability. 
In  addition  to  the  two  Digital  Decade  KPIs,  four  auxiliary  indicators  provide  additional  insight  into 
how  easily  and  safely  users  can  access  and  operate  online  government  services.  These  auxiliary 
indicators include: 

1.  Pre-filled Forms: Measures the share of administrative steps that present prefilled data in 

online forms. In 2024, the average score of all Member States sits at 71 points. 

2.  Transparency of Service Delivery, Design, and Personal Data: Assesses the extent to 
which service processes are transparent, services are designed with user involvement, and 
users can manage their personal data. In 2024, the average score of all Member States sits 
at 69 points. 

3.  User  Support:  Measures  the  availability  of  online  support,  help  features,  and  feedback 
mechanisms  for  both  national  and  cross-border  users.  In  2024,  the  average  score  of  all 
Member States sits at 89 points. 

 
4.  Mobile  Friendliness:  Assesses  the  responsiveness  of national  service  websites  to  mobile 

screens. In 2024, the average score of all Member States sits at 96 points. 

The  2025  edition  of  the  eGovernment  Benchmark  aligned  with  the  Single  Digital  Gateway 
Regulation  (SDGR),  enabling  an  assessment  of  the  Regulation’s  implementation  across  all  EU 
Member  States.  In  2024,  93%  of  the  SDGR  procedures  can  be  fully  completed  online.  However, 
despite such positive results, the benchmark’s measurements reveal that  there are no occurrences 
yet  of  Once-Only  Technical  System  (OOTS)  implementations;  hence,  citizens  or  entrepreneurs  are 
still  unable  to  automatically  retrieve  necessary  documents  from  a  trusted  source  in  another 
Member State. Moreover, an assessment of digitalisation in delivery of output indicates a notable 
disparity between national and cross-border users upon the completion of a service procedure, with 
the former being provided with an acknowledgement of receipt, digital outputs, and confirmations 
relatively more often.  

Cybersecurity,  artificial  intelligence  (AI)  in  live  support  and  web  accessibility  also  serve  as  drivers 
and accelerators for the delivery and uptake of eGovernment services. In these areas, despite some 
positive results, room for improvement continues to exist. Countering cyber-attacks and protecting 
the  data  of  citizens  and  businesses  in  the  EU  is  a  top  priority.  However,  the  study’s  findings  on 
cybersecurity show that further action is needed. Fewer than 1% of government websites pass all 
13 basic security criteria tests, indicating that the vast majority of EU government service websites 
fall  short  of  cybersecurity  standards, exposing  websites,  users,  and  their  data  to  significant  risks. 
More  robust  cybersecurity  could  strengthen  trust  and  encourage  more  citizens  to  choose  online 
channels over physical service exchanges.  

The  growing  prominence  of  AI-induced  activities  and  operations  in  the  EU  has  various  regulatory 
implications,  as  well  as  opportunities  to  improve  user  experience.  AI-powered  models  can  be 
leveraged  to  streamline  access  to  services  and  guide  users  through  the  digital  process.  The 
eGovernment  Benchmark  landscaped  available  automated  live  support  functionalities  -  often 
powered through AI chatbot - on portal websites across the EU27. Across the life events measured, 
43%  of  portals  offer  an  automated  live  support  function,  with  the  Regular  Business  Operations 
portals  having  the  highest  percentage  in  this  area.  Ultimately,  higher  web  accessibility  levels  of 
government  websites  would  allow  a  wider  range  of  citizens  to  benefit  from  online  government 
services. In 2024,  more than half (57%) of all websites violate at least one of the eight selected 
Web  Content  Accessibility  Guidelines  (WCAG)  criteria  and  are  therefore  not  compliant  with 
accessibility  requirements.  As  a  result,  users  with  impairments,  such  as  those  who  rely  on  screen 
readers, need high contrast, or navigate using a keyboard, may face barriers when trying to access 
digital services, potentially excluding them from essential government support. 

In sum, while European governments have made steps forward in the digitalisation of their public 
services,  several  gaps  remain  in  service  delivery.  The  Digital  Decade  KPIs  reveal  a  persistent 
difference in online service availability for entrepreneurs and citizens, with a 4-point gap between 
the  two  indicators.  On  a  broader  level,  despite  national-level  progress,  cross-border  online 
availability remains significantly lower, especially in the Health life event. This gap is also reflected 
in the score for Delivery of Output, where the indicator scores 76 points for national users, whereas 
it  drops  to  51  points  for  cross-border  users.  To  conclude,  the  2024  results  shows  promising 
progress towards the Digital Decade’s goals, but achieving a fully inclusive and high-quality digital 
public sector by 2030 will require targeted efforts to close persistent gaps across Member States, 
life events, and user groups. 

 
 
 
Glossary of key terminology 

eGovernment: electronic government (also digital government). 

Dimensions: the three pillars against which indicators for eGovernment are aggregated and measured. 

•  Online Service Delivery – To what extent are services provided online? How mobile friendly are 

they? And are public administrations clear about how their services are delivered? 

• 

Interoperability Signifiers – Are authentication enablers in place for (cross-border) users? Are 
public administrations clear on the way people’s personal data is being processed? And to what 
extent is the output of services digitized? 

•  User Friendly Portals – What online support and feedback mechanisms are in place? Are public 
administrations  transparent  about  policy  making  and  digital  service  design?  Are  services 
accessible for everybody, delivered without technical constraints and secure? And to what extent 
can users find the relevant websites? 

Life  event:  a  package  of  government  services,  usually  provided  by  multiple  agencies,  that  support 
citizens  or  entrepreneurs  through  key  points  of  their  lives,  such  as  the  birth  of  a  child  or  starting  a 
business. The eGovernment Benchmark covers nine life events (government domains):  

• 

• 

For businesses: Business Start-Up and Regular Business Operations.  

For citizens:, Career, Studying, Family, Health, Moving, Transport and Starting a Small Claims 
Procedure. 

Life event services: services within a user journey for national and cross-border users. 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Informational  services:  services  and  procedures  that  provide  users  with  adequate  and 
personalised insight into their situation. 

Transactional services: services and procedures needed to fulfil the essential requirements 
of a life event, such as registration. 

Portal  websites:  eGovernment  websites  that  gather  and  provide  information  and  services 
from multiple public administrations, also known as one-stop-shops. 

National users: citizens and entrepreneurs that seek information and services in their own 
country. 

Cross-border  users:  citizens  or  entrepreneurs  that  seek  information  and  services  in  a 
European country other than their own. 

Method: the way in which we collected the data. 

• 

• 

Mystery Shopping: the primary type of data collection in the eGovernment Benchmark  – a 
proven evaluation method that makes the user journey and experience the primary focus of 
attention. 

Automated  tools:  online  tests  through  which  websites  are  entered  and  assessed  on  a 
number of criteria. 

 
 
 
 
K
K
-
0
1
-
2
5
-
0
7
2
-
E
N
-
N

ISBN 978-92-68-27473-6