Jordan advances in UN e-government survey

AMMAN — Jordan has made a remarkable progress in the UN e-Government Survey 2022, published by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship on Thursday, Jordan advanced 17 positions in the overall classification of the e-government development index, and now ranks 100th in the world, compared with the country’s 202 rank of 117th. 

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs released the report’s 2022 edition on Wednesday. The report, issued every two years, evaluates 193 UN member states.

The report's main indicator of government development includes three sub-indicators: E-Services, in which Jordan obtained an international status of 74th, compared with 143rd in 2020. This jump marks significant progress, making Jordan’s 84 per cent improvement in this category notable in the Arab region. 

The second indicator is the telecommunications infrastructure, which has experienced a relative decline in the Kingdom. Jordan was ranked 125th this year. 

However, the absolute value of decline in the second indicator was less than 16 per cent, which can be attributed to a number of reasons, the most important of which is Jordan’s delay in launching 5G services. 

As for the report’s third indicator, human resources, Jordan is ranked 108th globally, compared with 115th in 2020. The delay in this indicator was caused by a lack of updated data. 

Jordan also made significant progress in the e-participation index, jumping 81 spots to 67th place internationally, compared with 148th place in 2020. The Kingdom ranked sixth in the Arab region, compared with its former rank of 12th place.

Jordan also made a 40-per cent advance in the open government data index that was developed in the 2020 report, improving from 0.5729 to 0.7915 in absolute terms.

Regionally, Jordan advanced by two places on the e-government development index, ranking 8th among the 20 Arab countries participating in the report compared with 10th place in 2020. 

Jordan also advanced six spots on the e-services index among the participating Arab countries. 

This achievement was driven by the progress of the application (Sanad) and the provision of digital services to citizens in higher numbers through the application.