The percentage of Canadian citizens accessing government services or products online is among the highest in the world, according to the second Government Online Study published by a London market research company.
A total of 48 per cent of Canadians have used the Internet to access e-government services in the last 12 months, according to the survey by Taylor Nelson Sofres. As a result, the nation ranked seventh out of 31 countries in terms of the highest level of e-government usage among citizens. Sweden (57 per cent), Norway (56 per cent), Singapore (53 per cent), Denmark (53 per cent), Faroe Islands (52 per cent) and Finland (49 per cent) rounded out the top six.
The study, which was published in November, also showed that Canadians most often use e-government services to obtain information. And while the government in Canada has not experienced a significant increase in the number of people reached through online services, more people are downloading information and standardized forms. A total of 27 per cent of Canadians consider it safe to use the Internet to provide the government with personal information, the study showed.
On a worldwide scale, 30 per cent of citizens said they had accessed government services online, compared with 26 per cent a year ago. Countries showing the highest increases include Australia, Turkey, the Netherlands and the U.S. Countries with the lowest level of use were Japan and the U.K., each with 13 per cent of the population.
The study, which polled almost 29,000 people, was conducted to examine the impact of the Internet on government both nationally and globally.