In comparison to the years 97 and 99, Iran’s ranking has declined. While in the year 97, its ranking was 86, it fell to 89 in 99, and now it has reached 91.

According to IDEA, the development of e-government has been one of the main goals of governments over the past decade. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has made serious efforts in recent years and in recent governments to expand online services. However, despite all these efforts, statistics about the level of e-government development in different countries show that e-government has not grown significantly in our country over the past two decades.

The slow and minimal development of e-government in Iran becomes more evident when we compare Iran’s e-government development with other countries. Statistics from the United Nations e-Government Development Index show that some neighboring countries like Uzbekistan, Armenia, and Kuwait have a better situation in terms of e-government development compared to Iran.

In the United Nations report that examines e-government development in different countries from 2003 to 2022 and provides a ranking of 193 countries, Iran held the 91st rank in the past year. Comparing this to its ranking of 107 in 2003, it’s clear that e-government development in Iran has been slow and minimal over the past two decades, and Iran has only improved its ranking by 16 positions in this regard.

Although our current ranking in e-government development has improved compared to 2003, 2004, and 2008, in comparison to recent years, our growth rate in e-government has decreased. The best ranking Iran had in this field was in 97 (2018), when it achieved the 86th rank among 193 countries.

After 97, in 99 (2020), Iran’s ranking in e-government development was 89. However, currently, this field has experienced a decline, and it has dropped to the 91st rank compared to 99. This is happening while the development of smart government was one of the main goals of the 13th government’s Ministry of Communications.

During the same period of about two decades, a country like Uzbekistan, which had a similar ranking to Iran (107) in 2003, managed to improve its ranking to 69, showing a better growth rate with a rise of 38 positions.

Iran’s ranking in e-government compared to neighboring countries
Other neighboring countries such as Armenia, Kuwait, and Oman also have rankings below 65 in terms of e-government development. This is despite the fact that all three of these countries were not among the top 85 countries in the world for e-government development even 20 years ago.

Among neighboring countries, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, and the UAE also have better rankings. Saudi Arabia, which was ranked 105 globally for e-government development two decades ago, has now elevated its rank by 74 positions in 2022, positioning it at 31st place among 193 countries, the highest development rate for e-government.

Kazakhstan and the UAE, both neighboring countries of Iran, also hold rankings below 30 and 20, respectively. Kazakhstan’s e-government development ranking has improved from 83 in 2003 to 28 in 2022. The UAE, which even two decades ago was one of the 40 countries with the highest e-government development, still maintains a notable ranking and stands at the 38th place worldwide in 2022. The UAE has preserved this growth over the past 20 years and currently holds the 13th rank in terms of e-government development.

Infrastructure problems in providing electronic services
Despite significant statistics about e-government growth in neighboring countries, in Iran, this growth is not as rapid and appropriate as expected. In addition to the statistics reported by the United Nations, the experiences of citizens and the news about e-government services also testify to the lack of expected progress in this field.

The National Smart Government Services Window, considered one of the most important plans of the 13th government’s Ministry of Communications, has around 22 million users after nearly 18 months of its launch, which accounts for about one-fourth of the country’s population of more than 80 million.

Moreover, various infrastructure and technical problems of different governmental devices have consistently created challenges and hindered electronic service delivery. In the past week alone, various issues have arisen for electronic service providers due to different reasons.

While it is stipulated that students in the first grades of elementary school, seventh grade of middle school, and tenth grade of high school, as well as students who wish to change their school of enrollment, should register through the unified electronic services window of education prior to in-person registration, problems in this system have prevented users from utilizing this service for over a week.

Additionally, a fire in the power distribution cabinet of the third building of the National Organization for Registration of Deeds and Properties disrupted the data center of this organization and disrupted electronic services. Following this incident, the organization refrained from offering electronic services.

On the other hand, disruptions and outages in the system of the Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FARAJA) have hindered the provision of certain electronic services to the public. This disruption has affected services such as passport and certificate issuance for applicants who had visited police offices for registration.

Therefore, it seems that various problems and shortcomings, including technical and infrastructural challenges, are significant obstacles to the development of e-government. In such conditions, achieving progress in e-government and improving the country’s ranking in this field is very challenging, and advancement in this area requires a critical focus on improving infrastructure quality and addressing technical issues.