E-Government in Finland

Finland has a high degree of penetration within the eGovernment segment, and is moving aggressively to increase the penetration that already exists. This includes the creation and implementation of a comprehensive eGovernment vision/strategy at the national level focused on the interoperability of systems owned by different government agencies and departments. (39)

In total eGovernment useage, Finland ranks fourth, with a total of 45% use within the past year. Of the four major methods of eGovernment interaction, Finland falls within the top five for three: Information Seeking, Downloading and Transacting (Finland falls outside the top five for providing. Within these categories, 37% of Finnish eGovernment users do so to seek information, 17% to conduct transactions and 15% to download governmental materials such as forms.(42) Some studies indicate that Finland leads all other European countries in terms of the sophistication of services that are available online from public authorities. (40)

85% of all governmental agencies and offices have their own web site, with 399 of 452 Finnish local authorities having their own web site. (41)

Helping to drive this is a growing perception within Finnish society that online government services are safe. Amongst European nations, Finland has the highest perceived safe/perceived unsafe ratio, at 37% to 54%. (42)

Finland has a dedicated eGovernment portal (http://e.finland.fi) in operation providing a comprehensive set of links to eGovernment resources as well as articles relating to current/ongoing and future eGovernment efforts. In 2000/2001 Finland spent approximately 1,500 million Euros on public sector information technology, 46% of which was dedicated specifically to eGovernment initiatives. This amounts to 256 Euros per capita, placing Finland third, behind Demark (317 Euros per capita/57% to eGovernment) and Sweden (272 Euros/49% to eGovernment). (43)