19 December 2025

The World Bank has measured 48 indicators across 198 economies and Australia has been identified as a global leader in how it embraces government technologies. We’ve improved on our previous achievement of 81.1% in 2022 and hit 98.5% in 2025, landing 5th in the world.

The World Bank Group has been measuring economies use of government technology (GovTech) since 2021. The 2025 GovTech Maturity Index Update places Australia in the top 5 performing countries with a score of 98.5%, landing us in Group A of world economies.

“The 2025 results represent a remarkable leap in Australia’s digital capabilities,” says Chris Fechner, Chief Executive Officer of the DTA. “Through strategic investment in digital-first infrastructure and citizen-centric services, we have increased our maturity by over 10 percentage points in just three years.”

Being categorised in Group A (Very High GovTech Maturity) reflects the tangible ease of how Australians interact with their government.

“A score of 98.5% indicates that Australia’s digital ecosystem is comprehensive. It features strong data sharing between agencies and highly secure, personalised digital identities to streamline access for our communities.”

The Index breaks down 48 indicators across four major categories:

Core Government Systems

The Core Government Systems Index looks to understand how a nation uses technologies to support government operations and services. This includes the establishment of interoperability frameworks and use of shared platforms as a means of reducing operational costs and improving efficiency.

From 2022, the World Bank found between 16% and 20% of economies have established government clouds, enterprise architectures, or interoperability platforms. This indicates a deep interest in utilising data and digital solutions.

Australia improved its standing from 83.6% in 2022 to 98.9% in 2025.

Australia’s Secure Cloud Strategy guides agencies through addressing capability shortcomings, confusion around security requirements, and conflicting organisation-specific information and communications technology policies. This was recently strengthened through the Whole-of-Government Cloud Computing Policy (taking effect on 1 July 2026).

Public Service Delivery

The public service index breaks down the type of services that are available online – tax filing, administrative, e-payments, jobs portals – and how accessible they are.

Of great interest to the World Bank was the improvement of online public services, social insurance, or pensions being delivered digitally, along with job portals. 10% to 12% more countries have adopted these platforms since 2022.

“With a jump from 74% to 99%, the Australian Government continues its commitment to simplify entry points for its service,” highlights Mr Fechner. “Over the past decade, Australian digital government services have expanded rapidly, providing new ways for people and business to access assistance.”

Our Digital Experience Policy ensures that government services are designed and delivered in a way that is user-friendly, inclusive, and efficient.

Digital Citizen Engagement

Platforms only serve their purpose when citizens engage by both using the platform and providing feedback. Under this citizen engagement category, the World Bank examines the efficacy of public participation platforms. This includes processing of citizen feedback and complaint handling mechanisms, as well as open data and open government portals.

In 2022, Australia scored 81.5%; in 2025, we improved to 96%. This is, in part, thanks to the DTA’s delivery of the Digital Service Standard. This Standard encourages agencies to implement feedback mechanisms that are easy and accessible for users to encourage engagement. The higher the response rate, the closer the data will be to the true sentiment of users.

Around the world, GovTech continues to face persistent challenges in offering this type of citizen collaboration. Open data portals remain limited, hampering transparency and accountability, with some 9% of participants even discontinuing their feedback mechanisms.

GovTech Enablers

The World Bank’s enablers index measures the state of several crosscutting drivers of digital transformation. It scores whether countries foster an environment that encourages innovation in the public sector and provides incentive for GovTech startups.

The DTA helps a suite of policies, standards, and guidance to enhance digital adoption, including GovTech:

  • The Data and Digital Government Strategy combines whole-of-government commitments for both the data and digital capabilities of the Australian Public Service (APS).
  • The Strategy’s supporting Implementation Plan describes what the government is doing to deliver outcomes, boost productivity, and protect all people and business as more services are delivered online
  • Digital.gov.au is an agency agnostic gateway unifying all things digital currently distributed across various Australian Government agencies and portfolios.
  • Our engagement approach outlines how we coordinate work with local and international partners through submissions, delegations, and consultations.
  • Material like our Policy for the responsible use of AI in government provides guardrails for the effective adoption of artificial intelligence, including training for APS staff.

The World Bank raised Australia’s scores from 81% in 2022 to 99.8% in 2025.

Government strategies for digital transformation have advanced, with 25–26% of countries improving since 2022. More nations now have GovTech startup policies, data governance entities, and data protection authorities. There was also an uptick of public sector innovation bodies and digital signature platforms, highlighting increased strategic focus around the globe.

Improvement never stops

“Australia has completed several more initiatives since submitting our work to the World Bank,” stresses Mr Fechner. “From the AI Plan for the APS, along with the National AI Plan, through to implementing our new Cloud Policy from July 2026 and enhancing our BuyICT platform.”

“Each of these projects continue to build on the strength of Australia’s GovTech capability and progresses our delivery of the Data and Digital Government Strategy’s vision: That the Australian Government deliver simple, secure and connected public services - for all people and business - through world class data and digital capabilities.”

For more information on the World Bank’s index, and the efforts that delivered our 5th rank internationally, explore the resources below:

The Digital Transformation Agency is the Australian Government's adviser for the development, delivery, and monitoring of whole-of-government strategies, policies, and standards for digital and ICT investments, including ICT procurement. 

For media enquiries email us at media@dta.gov.au

For other enquiries email us at info@dta.gov.au