UN: Denmark remains world champion in digital government

Denmark comes out top in new E-Government Survey by the UN, which ranks 193 countries in terms of their digital government readiness and implementation.

The “E-Government Survey” is published every second year, and Denmark has the highest score globally for the second consecutive survey year. In 2016, Denmark was in eighth place in the survey.

“It is fantastic that Denmark is once again ranked the world’s best in digital government. It shows that the public sector in Denmark is moving in the right direction in its efforts to use digital tools to provide better services to citizens and companies"

- Rikke Hougaard Zeberg, Director of the Danish Digitization Agency

Putting people first

Denmark is praised for its “holistic approach to digital government” that puts people first and revolves around the needs of individuals, including those left furthest behind.

The government intends to launch several signature projects in health sector, the social and employment areas, and introduce cross-sector case processing.

Related news: Denmark is fourth most digital country in the world 

Innovation with private sector companies and SMEs

To accelerate digital transformation and government innovation, Denmark is experimenting with developing digital public solutions in collaboration with the private sector and Danish tech SMEs.

The Government supports a GovTech programme to help tech startups deliver new solutions to create public sector value, the UN report highlights.

“Digital government in Denmark is happening through collaboration with the private sector. Copenhagen Capacity is here to help all foreign companies who want to setup in Greater Copenhagen to contribute with sustainable tech know-how and solutions that can help Denmark hold on to its lead position in e-government and strengthen our sustainable targets”

- Anette Steenberg, Investment Promotion Director, Copenhagen Capacity

Related news: Denmark is EU top performer in global entreprenuer index

Common public sector strategy for digitisation

Denmark’s Digitization Strategy focuses on creating a centralised ICT infrastructure that links the national government agencies, local government and municipalities to common services and a range of initiatives, projects and solutions such as digital infrastructure, data reuse, data security, digital welfare and digital business solutions.

Digital infrastructure solutions such as NemID, Borger.dk and Digital Post are results of this collaboration.

“Denmark has different specialised portals for citizens and businesses as well as one national health portal. Recently, the government has launched a series of more specific digital strategies, such as the National Strategy for AI to expedite the dissemination of digital welfare solutions through AI solutions”

- E-Government Survey, 2020

Online services, digital infrastructure and human capacity

The 2020 ranking of the 193 UN Member States in terms of digital government, captures the scope and quality of online services, status of telecommunication infrastructure and existing human capacity.

The digital government top 10 

1. Denmark
2. The Republic of Korea
3. Estonia
4. Finland
5. Australia
6. Sweden
7. The United Kingdom
8. New Zealand
9. The United States of America
10. The Netherlands

Do you want to know more about tech opportunities in Copenhagen?

If you would like to explore more about opportunities in digital Denmark, please reach out to Oliver Hall, Head of Fintech & AI Investments, via ohall@copcap.com or 0045 21 84 74 44.