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In June 2025, the European Commission released the latest eGovernment Benchmark, tracking how EU Member States are progressing toward accessible, secure, and user-oriented public service delivery. Aligned with Europe’s Digital Decade targets, the benchmark evaluates not only how many services are available online – but how well they function across borders, devices, and citizen life events.
But beyond the numbers lies a deeper question for governments everywhere: Is your digitalisation strategy producing real public value – or just digitising outdated systems?
The 2025 benchmark doesn’t only apply to Europe. It offers a mirror for any government reviewing, planning, or accelerating digital transformation. The five trends it highlights are a clear signal of what to prioritise – and what to avoid.
Five Key Trends Governments Can’t Afford to Ignore
1. Online Services Now the Norm
Over 82% of public services are available online across EU countries. National coverage is particularly strong at 94.5%, confirming that digital access is now standard for most government services. However, cross-border access still lags at 71.8%, which limits mobility and service continuity for non-residents, migrant workers, and regional business operators.
2. Mobile Access Is Standard
Digital services are increasingly built with portability in mind. According to the benchmark, 96% of websites are mobile-friendly, and 85% are fully accessible via mobile devices. This shift reflects changing user behaviours and reinforces the importance of designing for mobile-first access, especially in low-resource or mobile-dependent environments.
3. Uneven Progress Across Life Events
While domains like Transport and Business are highly digitised, Health, Family, and Studying continue to lag – especially in user support and transparency. The variation highlights the challenges of inter-agency coordination and the need for comprehensive strategies that go beyond isolated digital initiatives.
4. Trust and Transparency Still Underdeveloped
Only 60% of services meet transparency benchmarks, such as clearly explaining how user data is used. Additionally, just 51% of services support cross-border outputs, and the Once-Only Technical System (OOTS) – a key feature to eliminate redundant data submissions – is not yet implemented. These gaps suggest that trust-building must be a central part of digital transformation.
5. Interoperability Advancing, But Slowly
Tools like electronic identification (eID) and prefilled forms are now widespread, supported by 83% and 71% of services respectively. However, cross-border use of eID remains limited (42%), highlighting EU-wide interoperability as a persistent barrier to achieving a truly connected digital government across member states.
Why It’s Time to Reassess Your Digitalisation Strategy
The eGovernment Benchmark 2025 offers more than performance data – it provides strategic direction for governments asking how to avoid fragmentation, inefficiencies, or failed reforms. These trends highlight five critical insights for those planning the next phase of digital transformation:
Standards for Progress
With 20 indicators and 51 survey questions, the benchmark provides a clear, structured framework that can be adapted to measure digital maturity across different service areas and institutional setups, in any country.
Focus on Users, Not Just Technology
By emphasising life events and cross-agency coordination, the benchmark sends a clear message: successful digital transformation begins with citizen needs, not just system upgrades. Governments must prioritise a citizen-centric approach and focus on improving the entire user journey end to end.
Early Warnings on Sensitive Areas
Even among the most digitally advanced countries, issues like cybersecurity, accessibility, and inclusion remain under-addressed. For developing countries, this underscores the importance of embedding these safeguards into digital projects and reforms from the very beginning, rather than treating them as afterthoughts.
Low-Cost, High-Impact Innovation
Solutions like mobile-first design and specific AI-powered tools (e.g., chatbots) are proving effective and scalable – even in contexts with limited infrastructure or budgets. These innovations can accelerate service delivery improvements with relatively low implementation costs compared to traditional systems.
Governance Matters as Much as Infrastructure
The uneven progress across life events and services shows that digital maturity depends not only on systems, but on adaptive, well-coordinated governance. Leadership, institutional clarity, and cross-agency collaboration are critical for sustained impact.
Supporting Digital Government Reform: The Role of NRD Companies
NRD Companies partners with public sector institutions worldwide to implement citizen-oriented, interoperable, and secure digital solutions. Its work spans civil (CRVS©), business (BUSREG©), licensing (LIREG©), and beneficial ownership (BOREG©) registers, e-invoicing and fiscalisation systems (VFDMS©), as well as consulting and advisory services focused on digital governance readiness, reform, and innovation strategy. By aligning technical solutions with the upgrading of institutional structures, regulatory frameworks, and local capacity, NRD Companies enables governments to build resilient digital ecosystems. These solutions are mobile-ready, designed around real-life events, and built to evolve – supporting transparency, data-sharing, and long-term digital maturity across sectors.
A Shared Learning Opportunity for the Global Public Sector
The 2025 eGovernment Benchmark underscores that digital transformation is not a checklist – it is an ongoing, systemic process. For governments around the world, the EU’s experience offers both inspiration and caution. Progress is inevitable, but smooth progress requires a clear vision, user-centred design, and strong coordination across institutions.
As more countries move to digitise core public services, benchmarks like this one offer a powerful tool: not just to measure progress, but to shape smarter, more inclusive, and more resilient digital government strategies – locally and globally.
Looking to evaluate or accelerate your country’s digital transformation?
Explore how NRD Companies can support digital public sector reform – from assessment and strategy to implementation.
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