Greece made remarkable progress in the digitization of public services in 2023, while at the same time recording the greatest improvement in this area, with a 16% improvement over the last four years. Overall, within two years, Greece has approached and, in many cases, exceeded the European Average (AE). Our country's progress is reflected in the European Commission's annual report on the Digital Decade (Digital Economy and Society Index, DESI).
Greece also recorded an increase in the deployment of fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) infrastructure. Although still lagging behind the European average of 63.99% with an increase of 7.63 percentage points, our country recorded an increase of 10.56 percentage points, reaching 38.41%. Greece also recorded progress in 5G coverage, which stands at 98%, with an increase of 14.5 percentage points, while the European average is 89.3%, with an increase of 9.8 percentage points.
More specifically, in the indicators:
eGovernment users: Our country has managed to reach 79.66% of users of e-government services provided by the state, surpassing the European MTO steadily by 2023. This proves the acceptance and effectiveness of gov.gr, which has become an integral part of citizens' daily lives.
pre-completed forms. This is an increase of 24.6 percentage points, while the European MTO increased by 3.26 points. The rapid advancements made in this area by our nation are evidence of increased administrative effectiveness for the benefit of the populace.
Digital public services for citizens: Greece is making progress at a rate of 75.9%, approaching the European MoI of 79.4%, recording an increase of 11.3 percentage points. This is a multiple of the 2.41 percentage point increase in the European average, which shows the strengthening of digital services for citizens.
Digital public services for businesses: Greece registers a rate of 86.2%, exceeding the European MTO of 85.4%. The 12.5 percentage point increase shows support for business with modern digital solutions.
User support: Our country is approaching the European MTO of 86.4%, with a rate of 85.1% and an increase of 10 percentage points. This is significantly higher progress than the corresponding European rate of 2.85 percentage points.
Mobile-friendly: At 98.32%, Greece exceeds the European MO of 95.3%, an increase of 13.6 percentage points. This progress reflects the ongoing commitment of the Ministry of Digital Governance to implement digital services that are accessible from mobile devices, making the daily lives of citizens and businesses much easier.
However, significant challenges remain in other areas. The lack of ICT professionals in the labour market is one example, for which the Ministry of Digital Governance has launched initiatives to upgrade digital skills for workers, such as the National Alliance for Digital Skills and Employment and the Digital Skills Academy. In particular, the new call for the Digital Transformation 2021–2027 Programme of the Ministry of Digital Governance, with a total budget of €62.5 million, was recently issued for the implementation of digital skills upskilling programmes in innovative digital technologies based on market needs and current ICT trends.
As regards the use of digital technologies by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to enhance their competitiveness but also to exploit the potential of cloud computing, data analytics, and artificial intelligence, digital innovation hubs have been set up with a total budget of €32 million.
In addition, the Ministry of Digital Governance is implementing the "Digital Transformation of SMEs" programme with resources from the NSRF-EPRAN, which includes 3 actions with a total budget of €300 million. In addition, in the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan Greece 2.0 with funding from the European Union-NextGenerationEU, the programmes "Digital Tools for SMEs," "Development of Digital Products and Services," and "Digital Transactions" are being implemented with a total budget of €372.5 million.
