Bangladesh ranked 111th among 193 countries in this year’s UN e-Government Development Index, according to UN e-Government Survey 2022 by United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) that assessed the development over last two years. Bangladesh has moved up eight notches in the ranking while it has made 20 steps up on the e-Participation Index. Despite the global crises of the past two years caused by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, Bangladesh has made a significant improvement in e-participation globally.
The survey results of the 12th edition of EGDI, titled E-Government Survey 2022 (The Future of Digital Government), were announced on Wednesday at the United Nations HQ in New York. Bangladesh secured the 111th place among 193 countries on the E-Government Development Index or EGDI scoring 0.5630 and 75th place in E-Participation or EPI with a score of 0.5227. It was on the 119th place in EGDI scoring 0.5189 and on 95th place with a score of 0.5714 according to the survey in 2020.
The survey assesses of online service delivery, legal and policy framework, status of e-participation as well as telecommunication infrastructure and human capital. It is composed of analytical chapters and of data on e-government development contained in the annexes of the publication, providing a snapshot of the relative measurement of e-government development of all Member States. This survey is containing the most important international indexes that measures the development of digital governments in the areas of e-services, telecommunications infrastructure, and human capital worldwide.
In this year’s index, Bangladesh leads this year with the highest EGDI values among the least developed countries. Bangladesh scored 0.6521 in the Online Service Index (OSI), 0.4469 previously it was 0.3717 in Telecommunications Infrastructure Index (TII), and 0.59 previously was 0.5731 in Human Capital Index (HCI). The report says that in Bangladesh, communication and collaboration are facilitated at the country, municipal and rural local government levels through e-participation tools.
The UN report said that Bangladesh secured the highest EGDI value in the top Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Bangladesh remains in the high EGDI group in two consecutive surveys. Bangladesh is working on different e-government initiatives to improve efficiency and capacity in public services delivery.
The report said, Bangladesh has shown tremendous growth in terms of digital financial account access through the proliferation of branchless banking, which has taken full-service retail banking to the doorsteps of rural citizens across the country, and soaring mobile financial services (MFS), which have reached a client base of over 100 million. Combining these channels, and in collaboration with the Ministries of Social Welfare, Finance, and Bangladesh Bank, the a2i Programme of the Government of Bangladesh, with support from UNDP, the Gates Foundation and the Consultative Group to assist the poor, developed the ‘Citizen’s Choice Architecture’ for digital payments of social safety net programs-such as elderly allowance, allowance for widowed, deserted, and destitute women, allowance for financially-insolvent disabled people.
In Bangladesh, communication and collaboration are facilitated at the country, municipal and rural local government levels through e-participation tools available on the national portal. The Disability Innovation Lab to support the creation, testing and commercialization of disability inclusive products and e-services, the report said.
In 2009, Bangladesh adopted the national digital Bangladesh strategy, which aims to transform the country into a digitally developed nation by 2021 through ICT integration in support of good governance, law enforcement, employment and growth.
The 2022 United Nations E-Government Survey was prepared by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations (UNDESA), through its Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government (DPIDG), with the assistance of the International Telecommunication Union and the Institute for Statistics of UNESCO. The UN has been conducting the survey every two years since 2001 to spread digital government throughout the world and to achieve sustainable development goals by 2030.