Digital Government Outlook 2026: Germany
Table of contents
This country note presents an overview of the digital government landscape in Germany drawing on the results of 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 Germany in advancing a whole-of-government approach to digital transformation in the public sector.
In the 2025 edition of the OECD OURdata Index, Germany attained a score of 0.47, below the OECD average of 0.53 (Figure 1). This represents a 0.08 increase since 2023.
Germany recorded a score of 0.65 in Data accessibility, close to the OECD average of 0.67. This reflects Germany's efforts in ensuring that government datasets are accessible through open formats and metadata standards.
Germany scored below the OECD average in Data availability (0.45 vs 0.53) and Government support for data re-use (0.30 vs 0.40). This means that Germany has room for improvement in broadening the range of available datasets and in strengthening mechanisms to promote data re-use.
Germany has established a structured open government data framework. The Open Data Strategy of the Federal Government 2021–2025 sets out 68 measures across three areas: improving data provision and infrastructure, enhancing innovative and responsible data use, and developing data competency. Open Data Coordinators are mandatory in all federal authorities under Section 12a of the E-Government Act, supported by the Open Data Competence Centre within the Federal Office of Administration.
Strong legal requirements for open data availability and accessibility have been established in Germany. The national implementation of the EU Open Data Directive extends open-by-default principles to public undertakings providing services of general interest. The E-Government Act requires federal authorities to provide data free of charge, in open and machine-readable formats, with associated metadata conforming to the DCAT-AP.de 2.0 standard, and published on the national portal GovData.
While Germany performs well in establishing open data policies and legal frameworks, its government support for data re-use could be strengthened. Data promotion initiatives and partnerships and impact monitoring mechanisms remain limited. Developing more active programmes to promote re-use and measure the public value of open data could enhance the return on Germany's data investments.
Germany's stakeholder engagement mechanisms for open data also present opportunities for development. Engagement for data release prioritisation and for data quality improvement remain among the lowest-scoring sub-indicators. Strengthening structured consultation with data users could help align data provision with demand and improve overall data quality.
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 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. Germany did not participate in the 2025 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.
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 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.
This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD.
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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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