OECD: governments write good digital strategies, then stop measuring them
The OECD's Digital Government Outlook 2026 finds scores rising across its members, but a persistent gap between setting direction and checking results.
The OECD's Digital Government Outlook 2026 assesses 36 OECD members and 8 accession candidates, building on the 2025 Digital Government Index and the OURdata Index on open government data.
Better scores
The average Digital Government Index score rose from 0.61 in 2023 to 0.70 in 2025, and the OURdata Index from 0.48 to 0.53. By these measures governments are more digital than they were two years ago.
The gap
The more useful finding is where they score lowest. Governments do very well at setting strategic direction (0.87) and at using policy levers (0.80), a little worse at implementation (0.78), and worst of all at monitoring and evaluation (0.65). In other words, strategies are written and launched, but far less often checked against what they were meant to achieve, as Digital Watch summarises.
The report puts this down to rigid processes, fragmented systems, workforce shortages and outdated governance, at a time of economic volatility, demographic change and fast-moving technology such as AI. For ministries writing their next strategy, the practical advice is to fund evaluation from the start rather than hoping to add it later.
Research desk, Online
Stories by the IQGov research desk are written from public documents, official data and on-record statements, which are listed and linked at the end of each piece.
