Digital government is essential to transform government processes and services in ways that improve the responsiveness and reliability of the public sector. During the COVID-19 pandemic it also proved crucial to governments' ability to continue operating in times of crisis and provide timely services to citizens and businesses. Yet, for the digital transformation to be sustainable in the long term, it needs solid foundations, including adaptable governance arrangements, reliable and resilient digital public infrastructure, and a prospective approach to governing with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.

This paper presents the main findings of the 2023 edition of the OECD Digital Government Index (DGI), which benchmarks the efforts made by governments to establish the foundations necessary for a coherent, human-centred digital transformation of the public sector. It comprises 155 data points from 33 member countries, 4 accession countries and 1 partner country collected in 2022, covering the period between 01 January 2020 and 31 October 2022.

Key findings:

• The best performing countries in the 2023 Digital Government Index are Korea, Denmark, United Kingdom, Norway, Australia, Estonia, Colombia, Ireland, France and Canada. These countries demonstrate a comprehensive approach to ensuring strong foundations for digital government with a balanced performance across the six dimensions of the Index.
• OECD countries perform better in establishing the foundations for a digital- and data-enabled government.
• Countries have made significant progress in strengthening the governance of digital government. Yet, governments need to enhance the mandate and oversight mechanisms of the entrusted governance arrangements to yield greater impact.
• Further efforts are needed by countries to establish robust digital public infrastructure that supports seamless, proactive, and inclusive services in the digital age.