Three out of ten citizens (30 per cent) globally said that they had accessed government services online compared with only a quarter (26 per cent) questioned a year ago.
In some countries, increases have been significantly higher than in others: Australia, from 31 per cent to 46 per cent; Turkey, from 3 per cent to 13 per cent; the Netherlands, from 31 per cent to 41 per cent; and the United States, from 34 per cent to 43 per cent.
"The increase in the use of government-online services at a global level suggests that the public see the Internet as a more acceptable means of getting involved in government activity at both national and local levels," said Wendy Mellor, director of the Social and Government Division at Taylor Nelson Sofres.
In Japan, the use of electronic government fell by four per cent (from 17 per cent to 13 per cent of citizens) between 2001 and 2002.
Though security issues about accessing government services online were concerns for many countries during 2001, perceptions of safety have improved globally during 2002. Twenty-three per cent of citizens worldwide said that they feel safe disclosing personal information such as credit card and bank account numbers online; compared to just 14 per cent of citizens in 2001 -- an increase of 64 per cent.
Nonetheless, there are significant variations between users in different countries about the safety of electronic government.
In the Scandinavian markets -- Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden -- together with some South East Asian markets -- Singapore and Hong Kong -- around one third of users believe using electronic government services is safe. In contrast, the greatest safety concerns were expressed by citizens in Japan (90 per cent said they felt accessing government service online was 'unsafe'), Germany (82 per cent) and France (76 per cent).
The most common use of electronic government is searching for information (24 per cent of users) and downloading information (11 per cent of users), the report said. The overall increased use of electronic government services is primarily due to the rise in the proportion of people searching for information (from 20 to 24 per cent during the 12 months to September 2002).
"While the growth in the use of e-government is encouraging, our research shows that the majority of this growth is from citizens searching for information online rather than making transactions or providing personal information to government," Mellor said.
The report found little increase in the use of services that allow citizens to interact with government. Globally, online government transactions increased from just 6 per cent to 7 per cent in the 12 months to September 2002; the percentage of those providing personal details to government increased from 7 per cent to 8 per cent.
"This may be due to perceived security risks, but if the use of these services is to increase, messages about the safety of government-online services need to be communicated effectively," Mellor said.
Other key findings include:
- The highest levels of electronic government use are found among people in Sweden (57 per cent of the population); Norway (56 per cent); and Singapore and Denmark (both with 53 per cent). These countries also show the highest levels of Internet use at approximately 80 per cent of the population across the four countries.
- Britain and Japan are two of the countries with the lowest levels of use with just 13 per cent of the population using government services online.
- Globally, the use of electronic government is more prevalent among men (33 per cent) than women (26 per cent) and among those aged under 35 compared with other age groups.
- During the past year, substantial increases in using electronic government have taken place among 35-44 year-olds (from 22 per cent to 36 per cent), and 55-64 year-olds (from 2 per cent to 18 per cent). In contrast, use among those aged 65 and above decreased (from 7 per cent in 2001 to 5 per cent in 2002)
- Globally, the proportion of Internet users who have made transactions using government services online is equal to the proportion of users who made online shopping transactions. Fifteen per cent of Internet users have made an online government transaction, and, in addition, 15 per cent have made an online purchase at least once during the past 12 months.
- The percentage of Internet users who access government services online varies considerably across different countries, from 16 per cent in Hungary to 81 per cent in Norway.
