Kyiv, 25 January 2023 – The level of use of electronic government services in Ukraine is continuing to grow – over 2022, 63% of Ukrainians used public electronic services, compared to 60% in 2021 and 53% in 2020. In other words, three out of five adult Ukrainians used electronic public services during the year.

These figures come from a Ukrainian national survey that was conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in September 2022, at the request of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, with support from Sweden,, and in partnership with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. 

Most respondents (52%) used the Diia smartphone application or Web portal. Moreover, this share of people using them has quadrupled in three years – from 13% in 2020, since the UN Development Programme in Ukraine initiated a study on the use of e-services, and up from 30% in 2021. Also, over the last year, the level of use of registration services for subsidies, benefits and/or social payments online increased slightly – from 13% to 16%.

At the same time, an absolute majority of respondents (79%) who used these state electronic services considered the experience rather or very positive.

The Ministry of Digital Transformation continues to build a state that is the most convenient for its citizens in terms of the use of public services, Mstyslav Banik, Head of Digital Services Development at the Ministry of Digital Transformation, said.

“During the year, the Ministry of Digital Transformation has been actively working to develop Diia. Over this time, 6 million new users downloaded the app. Currently, more than 18.5 million Ukrainians use the Diia app, and almost 22 million use the web portal,” he says. “The fact that Ukrainians increasingly use state electronic services, and the absolute majority positively evaluates their experience, shows that our efforts are yielding results.”

Last year, due to the war, the size of vulnerable population groups increased in Ukraine, primarily due to the increase in the number of internally displaced persons. The war also highlighted the importance of online interaction with the state. Under conditions in which millions of people needed help from the state, but could not physically use these services – because they were forced to travel or were at a new place of residence, or because the national health centre in their settlement stopped functioning – the ability to receive the state services they needed via their own smartphone or laptop turned out to be critically important.

“The survey revealed that younger respondents, as well as residents of larger settlements and more educated respondents used government e-services the most,” says Anton Hrushetsky, Deputy Executive Director of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. Thus, 82.5% of respondents among 18-29-year-olds used at least one service, while among people over 70 years old it was 28%, he says.

However, the digital divide between age groups is shrinking, the study showed. Over the past three years since 2020, the level of use of electronic services has increased the most among people of older age categories – by 52% among people aged 70 and over, and by 30% among 50-69-year-olds. In comparison, this indicator increased by 11% among 18-29-year-olds, and by 18% among 30-49-year-olds.

This is already the third study on the use of electronic services and the Internet in Ukraine conducted by KMIS at the request of the UNDP. Previously, similar surveys were conducted in September 2020 and 2021.

Olena Ursu, UNDP Ukraine Programme Specialist, Democratic Governance says the UNDP in Ukraine is systematically cooperating with the Ministry of Digital Transformation on the creation of new electronic services and the development of digital education in the country. That is why it is important to monitor the opinions and views of citizens regarding the use of e-services to find out what problems they face, as well as to monitor the progress of digitalization.

“Digital transformation cannot take place without simultaneous work on increasing the digital literacy of citizens so that they can take advantage of all new electronic services,” says Olena Ursu.

“The reduction of the gap between different age groups in the use of e-services that was revealed by the survey shows that all the efforts of the Ministry of Digital Transformation in this direction are yielding results. The UNDP will continue to support its government partners on this path in order to further promote the improvement of the digital skills of Ukrainians, especially those from the most vulnerable groups, and to achieve the overall goal of reducing the digital divide in the country.”

A total of 72% of respondents regularly use the Internet daily, the study showed. Another 13% use the Internet irregularly – 2-3 hours a week or less – while 14% do not use the Internet at all.

Background

The Ukrainian survey was conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in September 2022, as part of a regular omnibus, at the request of the UNDP in Ukraine, with support from Sweden, and in partnership with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. 

The survey aimed to study the opinions and views on various issues related to the use of state electronic services of Ukrainians aged 18 and older who were living on the territory controlled by the government of Ukraine as of 23 February 2022. The survey was conducted using computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI).

The survey was conducted from 15 to 22 September 2022. A total of 2,002 interviews were conducted.

Media inquiries

Yuliia Samus, Communications Team Leader, yuliia.samus@undp.org