The digital transformation experienced in recent years in the countries of the European Union has made the number of EU citizens who interact with the digital services of public administrations. So much, that in 2024according to Eurostat data, a 70% of citizens Europeans between 16 and 74 has used a public service in digital format.
The data used in the survey have been taken from the Eurostat survey on the use of information and communications technologies in European homes and by citizens, which is updated annually to ensure that the data collected remains relevant. The questions and areas of interest vary from one year to another depending on the advances of technology, but there is a central part of the survey that remains immutable, and which aims to offer a stable and continuous data collection of several key indicators.
The module of use of electronic government systems was reviewed in 2022 and since then collects data annually. As for the data that collected on electronic identification, they were collected in 2023 and will be collected again in 2025, since they have a periodicity of biannual renewal.
Use of online public services in the EU in 2024
The percentages of Use of online public services By countries it varies very significantly. While in Denmark (98.5%), Netherlands (96%), Finland (95.4%) and Sweden (94.6%)almost all of the population of said age strip used online public services last year, in other countries in the region the percentage of users of these services reflects that they were only used by a minority.
The countries in which this type of service was used were used were Bulgaria (32%) and Romania (25%). Space It is located in the upper part of the table, with practically 80% of the population (79.7%) as a user of online public services in 2024.
Digital public services can offer great facilities to the population, in addition to increasing their level of transparency and efficiency. It also greatly facilitates the lives of citizens, since they can perform online all kinds of operations for which it was previously necessary to go to the appropriate administration in each case. For this, it is only necessary to have electronic identification systems and elements, which serve as their online identifier and allow them to verify their online identity and access services on the Internet safely.
The majority of users of public online services in 2024 used them to consult information about different services, aid, laws and schedules of official agencies. 44% of EU citizens did it. Another 38% used them in the discharge of official forms.
The European Commission, as contained in its digital decade program, has been set by 2030 the objective that its main public services are accessible through the Internet. Also that all citizens have the option of using electronic identification to identify on the Internet.
Use of electronic identification in the European Union
As for the Use of electronic identification in the EU (EID)which allows citizens to surely verify their identity and access services in the EU, and according to Eurostat data of 2023, 41% of EU citizens between 16 and 74 have used their electronic identification to access online services for private purposes in the previous year. This identification can be used to access different types of services, both from the public and private sector.
Again, the data for the use of an EU country to others vary between countries in which they have used more than 90% and those that do not exceed 10% of users. The use ranking is headed by Denmark (98%), Netherlands (95%), Finland (94%) and Sweden (93%). By the tail are Cyprus and Germany (9%) and Bulgaria (6%).
In 2023, The ones who used their electronic identification were those between 25 and 34 years oldwith a 50% of users. It is followed between 35 and 44 years (490%), and those between 45 and 54 years (44%). It is curious that the youngest user strip, between 16 and 24, were not the ones who used it the most. In fact, only 40%used it. The over 55 were the ones who used it least. 36% of those between 55 and 64 years, and 25% of those between 65 and 74 years.
The use of electronic identification in private services was very high in Finland and Estonia, where they used 78%. They are followed by Sweden with 74%. The average in the EU was much lower: 16%.
