Digital Government Outlook 2026: Bulgaria
Table of contents
This country note presents an overview of the digital government landscape in Bulgaria 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 Bulgaria in advancing a whole-of-government approach to digital transformation in the public sector.
In the 2025 edition of the OECD Digital Government Index, Bulgaria attained a score of 0.37, below the OECD average of 0.70. Bulgaria did not participate in the 2023 edition (Figure 1).
Bulgaria recorded its strongest performance in Digital by Design (0.57) and Data-driven Public Sector (0.43), though both remain below OECD averages of 0.75 and 0.74, respectively. These results suggest that Bulgaria faces broad challenges in advancing its digital government agenda.
Lower scores were recorded in Proactiveness (0.14 vs 0.67) and User-Driven (0.28 vs 0.71). This means that Bulgaria has significant room for improvement in anticipating user needs through proactive service design and in placing users at the centre of service delivery.
In the 2025 edition of the OECD OURdata Index, Bulgaria attained a score of 0.31, below the OECD average of 0.53 (Figure 2). Bulgaria did not participate in the 2023 edition.
Bulgaria recorded a score of 0.63 in Data accessibility, close to the OECD average of 0.67. This reflects some progress in ensuring that government datasets are accessible through open formats.
Bulgaria scored below the OECD average in Data availability (0.25 vs 0.53) and Government support for data re-use (0.04 vs 0.40). This suggests that Bulgaria has significant room for improvement in broadening the range of available datasets and in developing mechanisms to promote data re-use.
Bulgaria has established a digital government governance structure led by the Ministry of Electronic Governance under the Updated Strategy for the Development of Electronic Governance 2019–2025. Co-ordination is ensured through the Council for Digital Decade, with external input from the Advisory Council of the ICT Community to the Minister of e-Governance.
A comprehensive Bulgarian data interoperability system has been established through RegiX, the Registry Information Exchange System. RegiX enables automated machine-to-machine interconnections between 62 Bulgarian registries and other information systems.
Dedicated funding for Bulgaria’s digital transformation has been secured through the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility. The Digital Transformation Component funds e-governance modernisation, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and the development of AI-driven public services and interoperability frameworks.
Bulgaria's AI framework presents significant opportunities for development. A national AI strategy, ethical instruments, transparency mechanisms, oversight bodies, and documented AI deployment in government are not yet in place. Developing a comprehensive AI governance framework could support responsible adoption and strengthen public trust.
Human-centred service design in Bulgaria also presents significant scope for development. Service design standards, a user-accessible service catalogue, digital impact consultations, user engagement mechanisms, performance metrics, and the Once-Only Principle are not yet in place. Establishing these capabilities could support more systematic and user-centred public service delivery.
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. Bulgaria did not participate in the 2023 edition of the DGI.
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. Bulgaria did not participate in the 2023 edition of the OURdata Index.
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. Data cover the period from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2024. The composite score is the unweighted average of the six-dimension scores.
Figure 2: The 2025 OURdata Index OECD average does not include Denmark, Hungary and the United States. Data cover the period from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2024. 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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