Bangladesh ranks 124th in UN e-government survey

Bangladesh has ranked 124th in the United Nations E-Government Survey-2016 among the 193 countries advancing by 24 notches, reports BSS.

“This year, Bangladesh has been ranked 124. In 2014, and 2012 Bangladesh was ranked 148 and 150 respectively,” an official of Access to Information (a2i) programme told BSS on Friday.

The E-Government Development Index (EGDI) is a weighted average of normalized scores on the three most important dimensions of e-government -- scope and quality of online service, status of the development of telecommunication infrastructure, and inherent human capita, he added.

Referring to the UN E-government Survey 2016, conducted by United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), Dr Ramiz Uddin, head of result management of the a2i programme, said Bangladesh has made an excellent progress on implementing e-government. “This year Bangladesh has been ranked 124. In 2014, and 2012 Bangladesh was ranked 148 and 150 respectively,” he added.

“Analyzing the survey report, Bangladesh has been progressed massively in the last 2 years. As per E-Government Development Index, Bangladesh also secured 3rd position in South ASIA region. Sri Lanka and India is the top most position in this region,” Dr Ramiz added.

The top e-government performing countries are the United Kingdom, Australia, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Denmark and France, he added.

M. Mostafizur Rahman Khan, research and documentation expert of the a2i programme, said the E-Government Development Index (EGDI) is valued by the average of normalized scores on the three most important dimensions of e-government.

He said the online services component of the E-Government Development Index (EGDI) is a composite indicator measuring the use of ICT by governments to deliver public services at national level.

It is based on a comprehensive survey of the online presence of all 193 United Nations Member States, Mostafizur said, adding Bangladesh scored high on online Service Index.

The a2i sources said the five sub-components (indicators) of the Telecommunication Infrastructure Index in EGDI are Internet users, fixed-telephone subscriptions, mobile-cellular subscriptions, fixed-broadband subscriptions and wireless broadband subscriptions. Bangladesh has more mobile Cellular Telephone subscriptions than other four sub-components, they added.

They said The Human Capital Index (HCI) consists of four components -- adult literacy rate, the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio, expected years of schooling, average years of schooling.

World Economic Forum ranked Bangladesh 104 among 130 countries. Bangladesh scored 57.84 in human capital index.