Just 13 per cent of the population in both countries access government services online.
Some governments have obviously got it right. As might be expected, the highest levels of usage are found among people in countries with high levels of Internet use.
So topping the bill are Sweden with 57 per cent of the population, closely followed by Norway (with 56 per cent) and Singapore and Denmark (both with 53 per cent). However even countries without these levels of Internet usage managed respectable scores.
Australia, with 46 per cent of the population accessing government sites, was closely followed by the US, with 43 per cent and the Netherlands, with 41 per cent.
Wendy Mellor, director, social and government, Taylor Nelson Sofres, said: "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.
"However, significant differences exist between countries that may be due to awareness of services, perceptions of safety, relevance of the site to users, and access to the Internet, among others."
She pointed out that in countries where there’s a high level of Internet usage generally, citizens would feel more at ease in accessing government services online.
"Yet in countries such as Britain, New Zealand and South Korea, where usage lags behind general internet use, more needs to be done to assess why uptake of online services is slow and what steps need to be taken to address this."
It shouldn’t take long to pinpoint what’s wrong in the UK. Earlier this week, a survey by Porter Research found that most UK government websites were poorly designed and contained too much jargon.
Quelle: internet magazine
