Public services function as critical points of contact between citizens and their governments, influencing trust in public institutions (OECD, 2024a). High-quality public administrative services are essential for achieving governments' socio-economic objectives, including economic growth, citizen well-being and upholding the rule of law. To effectively deliver these outcomes and respond to citizens’ needs and expectations, administrative services must be designed and delivered in a responsive, reliable, inclusive, equitable and agile fashion. Transforming administrative services to be more human-centred is an ongoing priority for governments, requiring them to consider user convenience and expectations ahead of internal processes, existing policies or legacy systems (OECD, 2024b).
In 2023, on average across OECD countries, two-thirds (66%) of people who have used administrative services in the previous year were satisfied with the quality of the services they received (Figure 4.10). It is noteworthy that in 28 of the 30 participating countries, a majority of users are satisfied, a share that rises to over 80% in Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. Variations across individual countries indicate opportunities for governments to identify local challenges and implement targeted improvements to service delivery.
User satisfaction with particular aspects of an administrative service significantly influences their overall satisfaction rates. The factor which made the most difference to satisfaction rates was the speed of obtaining a service. Across OECD countries, 64% of people were satisfied with this aspect of public administrative services, correlating with a 13 percentage point increase in overall satisfaction. The ease of obtaining a service was also important, associated with a 10 p.p. increase in overall satisfaction, and with approximately 69% of users satisfied on this front. The ability to access the service as desired and the ease of using digital services, both with satisfaction rates of around 67%, correlated with an 8 p.p. increase in overall satisfaction apiece. Higher satisfaction rates (approximately 73%) were observed for clarity of language and information provided, and employee courtesy, each associated with a 6 p.p. increase in overall satisfaction. These insights suggest clear pointers for governments aiming to enhance users’ experiences, suggesting they particularly prioritise improving the timeliness of and ease of access to their administrative services (Figure 4.11).
