Bangladesh has moved up 11 spots to lead the least developed countries in the 2024 United Nations E-Government Development Index (EGDI), thanks to better performance in Online Services and Telecommunication Infrastructure sub-indices over the past two years.
Globally, Bangladesh now ranks 100th out of 193 countries, up from 111th in 2022. The 13th edition of the report, titled “E-Government Survey 2024: Accelerating Digital Transformation for Sustainable Development,” was released today (18 September) by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
Bangladesh scored 0.6570 out of 1, surpassing both the South Asian average of 0.5855 and the global average of 0.6382. Among the least developed countries, Bangladesh has the highest EGDI value, followed by Bhutan, Rwanda, Nepal, Cambodia, Zambia, Senegal, and Myanmar.
In South Asia, the Maldives leads with a global ranking of 94th and a score of 0.6745, followed by India (97th) and Sri Lanka (98th). Bangladesh is fourth in the region, ahead of Bhutan (103rd), Nepal (119th), Pakistan (136th), and Afghanistan (188th).
Denmark, Estonia, and Singapore top the 2024 digital government rankings among 193 UN Member States, excelling in online services, telecommunications, and human capacity.
The EGDI is a composite index that measures digital government development by averaging three independent indices — the Online Services Index, the Telecommunications Infrastructure Index, and the Human Capital Index.
Digital transformation accelerates but at uneven paces
The survey showed that significant progress has been made in digital governance, boosted by investments in strong infrastructure and advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and broadband.
While digital transformation has driven innovation and growth, especially in the private sector, many countries still struggle to fully use these advancements to improve public services and participation, which are crucial for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Europe is leading in e-government development, but Asia is progressing faster than the other regions, with 53% of countries in Asia having very high EGDI values.
The global average EGDI has improved significantly over the past two years, with the share of the global population lagging in digital government development falling from 45% in 2022 to 22.4% in 2024.
This improvement is largely due to Asia’s strong performance, especially the higher EGDI values of India and Bangladesh, according to the report.
