Digital Government Outlook 2026: Belgium
Table of contents
This country note presents an overview of the digital government landscape in Belgium drawing on the results of the 2025 OECD Digital Government Index (DGI) and the 2025 OECD OURdata Index. The note outlines key policy developments in the country observed during the assessment period. It aims to inform policy dialogue and support Belgium in advancing a whole-of-government approach to digital transformation in the public sector.
In the 2025 edition of the OECD Digital Government Index, Belgium attained a score of 0.61, below the OECD average of 0.70. This represents a 0.07 increase since 2023 (Figure 1).
Belgium recorded higher scores in Proactiveness (0.69), above the OECD average of 0.67, and matched the OECD average in User-Driven (0.71). These results show that Belgium has advanced in adopting proactive approaches to service delivery and in placing user needs at the centre of service design.
Belgium scored below the OECD average in Open by Default (0.36 vs 0.59), Data-driven Public Sector (0.52 vs 0.74), Digital by Design (0.70 vs 0.75) and Government as a Platform (0.69 vs 0.71). This means that Belgium still has room for improvement in promoting the openness and transparency of government data, leveraging data as a strategic asset, and further strengthening digital-by-design and shared platform approaches across government.
In the 2025 edition of the OECD OURdata Index, Belgium attained a score of 0.39, below the OECD average of 0.53 (Figure 2). This represents a 0.07 increase since 2023.
Belgium scored below the OECD average across all three pillars: 0.30 in Data availability, 0.58 in Data accessibility and 0.28 in Government support for data re-use, compared with OECD averages of 0.53, 0.67 and 0.40, respectively. These results suggest that Belgium faces challenges across all dimensions of open government data provision.
The lowest score was recorded in Government support for data re-use (0.28). This suggests that Belgium has significant room for improvement in strengthening mechanisms, incentives and support measures to promote the re-use of government data.
Belgium has established a governance structure for digital government led by the Directorate-General for Simplification and Digitalisation within the Federal Public Service Policy and Support (FPS BOSA). Co-ordination across government is ensured through the Inter-Community Consultation on e-Government (ICEG). A new federal digital strategy is under development, following a mandate from the Minister for Digitalisation to define the next strategic direction for digital government.
Systematic mechanisms to measure user needs throughout the service lifecycle are well established in Belgium. User research is continuous, covering assumption testing, problem exploration, concept validation, and iterative design. Targeted surveys and tracking indicators are deployed at launch to monitor performance. Post-launch monitoring through surveys and analytics supports ongoing adjustment based on real user experience.
A comprehensive data interoperability framework has been established in Belgium. The Belgian Interoperability Framework, aligned with the European Interoperability Framework, provides expertise, services, and support for secure and standardised data exchange within and between the federal government, communities, and regions.
While Belgium performs well in areas such as financing and GovTech, broader components of its digital investment framework could be strengthened. In particular, ex-post cost-benefit analysis, a common impact evaluation methodology, a project monitoring system, and a standardised value proposition model are not yet in place. Developing these capabilities could enhance oversight across the investment lifecycle.
Belgium's data governance framework also presents opportunities for development. A dedicated data leadership institution, a data quality framework, and a public sector data strategy were not reported at the government level in the 2025 DGI and OURdata Index. However, separate Data, Cloud, and AI strategies are currently under development, as part of the 2025–2029 federal coalition agreement and the 2026 Policy Statement on Digitalisation, reflecting ongoing efforts to strengthen data governance and the strategic management of government data assets.
The OECD Digital Government Outlook (DGO) provides a comprehensive assessment of digital government policies across OECD Members and accession candidate countries. It draws on the results of the 2025 OECD Digital Government Index (DGI) and the 2025 OECD Open, Useful and Re-usable Data (OURdata) Index to evaluate progress and identify persistent gaps in digital transformation across the public sector.
The DGI assesses the enabling foundations for digital transformation across six dimensions: Digital by Design, Data-driven Public Sector, Government as a Platform, Open by Default, User-Driven and Proactiveness. Rather than measuring the digitalisation of specific services, the DGI focuses on the strategies, policy levers, implementation practices and monitoring mechanisms that enable coherent, whole-of-government digital transformation.
The OURdata Index benchmarks the robustness of open government data policies across three pillars: data availability, data accessibility and government support for data re-use. It supports policymakers in monitoring the design and implementation of national open government data policies.
Both indices were developed with OECD Member countries through the OECD Working Party of Senior Digital Government Officials (E-Leaders) and approved by the OECD Public Governance Committee.
Figure 1: The 2025 DGI OECD average does not include Germany and the United States. 2025 data cover the period from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2024. The 2023 OECD average does not include Germany, Greece, Slovakia, Switzerland and the United States. 2023 data cover the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 October 2022. The composite score is the unweighted average of the six-dimension scores.
Figure 2: The 2025 and 2023 OURdata Index OECD average does not include Denmark, Hungary and the United States. 2025 data cover the period from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2024. 2023 data cover the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021. The composite score is the unweighted average of the three-pillar scores.
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The full book is available in English: OECD (2026), Digital Government Outlook 2026: From Foundations to Transformational Impact, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/0496b2bc-en.
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