{"id":171549,"date":"2024-09-27T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/?p=171549"},"modified":"2024-11-26T08:58:18","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T13:58:18","slug":"snapshot-2024-update-of-e-government-in-the-caribbean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2024\/09\/snapshot-2024-update-of-e-government-in-the-caribbean\/","title":{"rendered":"Snapshot: 2024 update of e-Government in the Caribbean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We examine the results of the latest global e-government development survey, which includes 16 Caribbean countries, and compare the 2024 results with those recorded in previous exercises.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last week, on 17 September, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA<\/a>) published the results of its latest e-government development survey, which covers all 193 United Nations member states. The exercise included 16 Caribbean countries, which are listed in Exhibit 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Exhibit 1: Caribbean\/CARICOM countries included in the 2024 e-government development survey (Source UN DESA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In this article, as we have done for the past several editions of the survey results, we highlight and discuss the performance of the Caribbean countries included in the exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Determining the EGDI<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The United Nations e-Government Development Index (EGDI) measures \u201ca country\u2019s readiness, capacity and progress in using e-government for the provision of public services\u201d<\/em>. Similar to previous years, the EGDI consists of three key indices, as outlined in Exhibit 2, but as needed the subindices are refined to better align with the evolving environment.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Exhibit 2: Summary of the measures that comprised the main indices of the 2024 EGDI (Source: UN-DESA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The OSI assessment questions are categorized into five discrete thematic areas reflected in five subindices \u2013 institutional framework (IF), services provision (SP), content provision (CP), technology (TEC), and e-participation (EPI) \u2013 with the OSI calculated based on the normalized values for each subindex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TII comprises four subindices: the estimated number of Internet users per 100 inhabitants, the number of mobile subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, the number of wireless broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, plus a newly added affordability indicator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The HCI seeks to capture the human dimension of e-government by evaluating the ability of citizens to utilise digital government systems. The factors examined are the expected years of schooling, the mean years of schooling, the gross enrolment ratio (%), adult literacy, and e-government literacy (EGL).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the scores for the OSI, TII and HCI are valued between 0 and 1, and the weighted average of the three is used to arrive at the EGDI for each of the 193 countries examined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How did Caribbean countries perform in the 2024 survey?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Across most Caribbean countries included in the survey, the 2024 EGDI scores were lower than in 2022, which is also reflected in their drop in global ranking, as shown in Exhibit 3. Further, no Caribbean country is ranked among the top 50 for the 2024 exercise, though only The Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago would be among the top half of the global ranking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Exhibit 3: Comparison of 2022 and 2024 EDGIs and ranking for select Caribbean countries (Source: UN DESA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the past two reporting periods, The Bahamas has been the highest-ranked country in the sample group. In previous survey exercises, Barbados tended to be the highest ranked. However, between 2022 and 2024, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, in particular, appear to have made some marked improvements in some of the subindices measured under the EGDI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the other end of the list, the lowest-ranked Caribbean countries have remained the same, though their order has changed between 2022 and 2024:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a point of reference, Exhibit 4 lists the top 10 ranked countries globally in 2020. Based on the scores and ranking, the Caribbean region is still far behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In breaking down the EGDI scores each Caribbean country received, Exhibit 4 shows the scores for the sub-indices that comprise the EGDI. Unlike previous years when most countries would have received their highest score for HCI. The 2024 results seem more of a mixed bag with countries either performing their best for the TII or HCI. Consistently, the OSI scores are markedly lower than for the other two indices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Exhibit 4: Breakdown of the 2024 EGDI scoring by the three main sub-indices for select Caribbean countries (Source: UN DESA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The top three Caribbean countries with respect to<\/p>\n\n\n\n