OECD Digital Government Index: South Korea Leads in Digital Transformation
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released its 2025 Digital Government Index (DGI) and Open, Useful and Re-usable Data Index (OURdata), benchmarking governments’ progress in digital transformation. The DGI assesses efforts to establish a human-centred digital public sector, while the OURdata Index measures national open government data policies.
Key Findings from the 2025 DGI
South Korea tops the 2025 DGI with a composite score of 0.95, the only nation to surpass 0.9. Australia follows closely with 0.88 and Portugal, the United Kingdom, Norway, Estonia, Ireland, and Denmark all achieve scores of 0.83. Chile and Japan demonstrated the most significant score increases.
The DGI is based on six dimensions outlined in the OECD Digital Government Policy Framework: digital by design, data-driven public sector, government as a platform, open by default, user-driven, and proactiveness.
At the lower end of the index, Romania (0.24) and Croatia (0.35) show the least progress. OECD countries have improved their performance to 0.70, a 14 percent increase from 0.61 in 2023.
OURdata Index Highlights
France, Korea, Poland, Estonia, and Spain lead the 2025 OURdata Index, demonstrating comprehensive open government data policies. Chile, Japan, Czechia, Portugal, and Latvia have shown pronounced increases in their scores.
Data for Germany and the United States was not available for this assessment.
Digital Identity and Public Infrastructure
The report highlights the growing importance of digital identity systems, noting that countries are strengthening frameworks for cloud technologies and digital identity coverage. However, it too points to the necessitate for improved interoperability of digital identity systems across borders and continued investment in digital public infrastructure.
National Responses
Governments are responding positively to the DGI results. South Korea’s Seoul Economic Daily reported the nation scored above 0.9 in all six categories and achieved a perfect 1.00 in the data-driven public sector category.
Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) CEO Chris Fechner stated the DGI result demonstrates progress towards the nation’s goal of world-class data and digital capability by 2030. France’s digital service celebrated its first-place ranking in the OURdata Index and its fifth consecutive year as Europe’s leader in the Open Data Maturity Index.
Portugal’s government emphasized its investment in common digital infrastructure and interoperability, leading to a strong performance in the ‘Government as a platform’ dimension (93 percent). Chile’s Undersecretary of Finance, Heidi Berner, highlighted the country’s leadership in Latin America and its commitment to efficient digital public services.