People use public administrative services (PAS) frequently, for example when registering a birth, or getting an ID, license or permit. During important life events, like having a baby or moving home, people often use many different PAS. The quality of these services affects people’s lives and their trust in institutions. Serving Citizens 2026 presents an overview of how PAS are organised and delivered in OECD and partner countries. It provides guidance on how governments can make these services more accessible, responsive and proactive for the people who use them.
Serving Citizens 2026
Delivering Better Public Administrative Services
Introduction
Key figures
87%
of OECD countries have a strategy to improve public administrative services
55%
of OECD countries use performance data or user feedback to improve services
Only 20%
of common life events are supported by integrated services across different public agencies
Strategies to make services more human-centred are in place, but lack implementation plans
Across OECD countries, 87% already have a government-wide strategy addressing public administrative services reform. Almost all strategies include objectives to make these services more “human-centred”, actively designed to meet the needs of the people who use them. However, many strategies lack clear implementation plans, including cost estimates, capacity analysis, and robust monitoring and evaluation arrangements.
Services that people frequently use together are often not integrated
People often use several PAS from different public agencies during “life events”: someone moving home needs to register for local taxes, update the electoral register, etc. 77% of OECD countries have begun designing and delivering their PAS to better serve people during life events. However, across OECD countries, key services have been integrated by sharing user data across different public agencies for common life events in only 20% of cases. For 40%, guidance information is grouped on a website, but public agencies do not share data. For 40% of life events, integration has not started yet.
User feedback is widely collected, but not always used to improve services
Measuring service performance and user satisfaction allows government to understand problems and identify improvements in how PAS are delivered. 94% of OECD countries run user surveys to gather feedback on people’s experiences and problems with their services. 74% of countries also set and track performance targets for the public agencies that deliver these services. However, only 55% of countries use user feedback or performance data to improve their services, and only 45% use it to shape policy.
What can governments do?
Services work best when agencies work together along the user journey. Collaboration can reduce duplication and lower administrative burdens on the public. Governments can support better collaboration through shared objectives and targets, cross-agency working arrangements, interoperable systems and resources to test and scale up successful innovations.
Making better use of feedback and integrating services across different public agencies requires public servants who are empowered to design and lead improvements. Governments should reinforce a culture of user‑centred service delivery, and strengthen the incentives, skills and conditions to enable civil servants to innovate and redesign services.
Governments now collect large amounts of information on service performance and user experiences. They should use user satisfaction as a key measure of success. This will help close the feedback loop, ensuring public agencies identify service delivery challenges, prioritise improvements and respond more effectively to users' needs.
