E-Governance in Pakistan: Where Pakistan Stands and Where It Can Go?

Executive Summary

In Pakistan, E-Government Development has been a significant challenge for decades. Since the establishment of first electronic government directorate in 2002, pakistan’s progress in implementing e-governance has been poor compare to other countries. Through an extensive review of latest literature including journal articles, UN, ADB, and World Bank reports and data, this study reveals that, despite various e-governmnet initiatives,   Pakistan’s performance in e-government development remains very poor both globally and regionally. In E-Government Development ranking, Pakistan ranks 136th out of 193 UN member countries. In South Asia, it ranks  second  last, performing  only  better  than Afganistan  ,  which  reflects  low  level  of implementation and adoption. By addressing the issues such as low level of digital adoption and literacy, lack of research and data driven policies, absence of action plan and KPIs of digital transformation policies, and limited digital infrastructure, Pakistan can improve its e-governance.

What is E-governance and Why it is Important?

E-governance is defined as “the public sector’s use of Information and Communication Technologies with the aim of improving information and service delivery, encouraging citizen participation in the decision-making process and making government more accountable, transparent and effective (UNESCO, 2011). Integration of ICTs such as internet, digital platforms, data systems and mobile networks in governance systems bring efficiency, transparency, improves service quality and convenience, enhances communication between government and citizens and improves accountability (Atique, et al., 2024; Ahmad, et al., 2013). Countries such as Singapore, South  Korea  and  Denmark  have  significantly  enhanced  government  efficiency  through e-governance by reducing the bureaucratic delays, dependency on paper work, streamlining public services and improving accountability and transparency.

E-Government Development Performance of Pakistan from 2003 to 2024

In  an era of  digitalization, e-government  has become  one  of  the  important  priorities  of governments worldwide. However, many developing countries like Pakistan are still struggling to integrate ICTs into their governance system. Although Pakistan has taken many e-government countries, this low ranking is a reflection  of Pakistan’s poor performance in e-government development.1    However, Pakistan has shown a notable improvement in recent EGDI ranking improving its recent global ranking from 150 in 2022 to 136 in 2024.(Table 1).

Table 1: Pakistan E-government Development Index and Ranking (2003-2024)

Source: Author’s compilation based on data taken from United Nation’s E-Government Knowledgebase.

Despite the recent improved ranking, Pakistan is still lagging behind. Within South Asia, Pakistan’s EGDI  performance  is  only  better  than Afghanistan,  while  all  the  other  countries  have comparatively better indices and possess higher ranking in the list (UN E-Government Knowledgebase, 2024).

Figure 1: EGDI Scores: South Asian Countries and Singapore vs. Regional and Global Averages.

Source: Author’s compilation based on data taken from UN E-Government Knowledgebase (2024).

Although internet and mobile penetrations in Pakistan are lower compared to most of the South Asian countries, an increase in mobile connections of 1 million from 2024-25 and a year-on-year growth in users of internet (+1.7 million) (Table 2) shows a positive sign of increased access to technology and a potential of provision of services via mobile phones (ADB, 2025)

Table 2: Mobile connections and Internet use in Pakistan in 2025.

Source: Author’s compilation based on data taken from DATAREPORTAL, 2025.

Pakistan’s ranking in EGDI sub-indices scores have seen no significant improvement either. Table 3 indicates that except for the OSI and EPI, Pakistan’s ranking in other EGDI sub-indices namely TII and HCI is worse in the region. This indicates an urgent need for improvements and investment in IT infrastructure and human capital development. However, the OSI’s and EPI’s relatively higher scores reflect progress in provision of online public services, which is a positive sign towards e-government implementation.

Table 3: Comparison of sub-indices’ scores of EGDI, 2024.

Source:Author’s compilation based on data from UN E-Government Knowledgebase (2024).

E-Government Milestones in Pakistan from 2003 – 2024.

E-government in Pakistan began in 2002 with the establishment of the Electronic Government Directorate under the Ministry of Science and Technology (Ghayur, 2006). Figure 2 highlights the major e-governmnet initiatives over two decades.

Figure 2: Timeline of Major E-government Initiatives in Pakistan (2003-2024).

Source: Author’s compilation based on information taken from literature review and ADB Report on Pakistan’s Digital Ecosystem (2024).

The most recently e-governmnet projects for Government to Citizen  (G2C) services include National Jobs Portal, Pakistan Citizen Portal App, One Patient One ID, Pak-Hajj App, Beep, City Islamabad App, The Digital  Economy Enhancement Project  (DEEP) among others (National Information Technology Board, 2025).

Institutional Framework

There are various key government institutions, both federal and provincial, that make up the institutional  framework  within  Pakistan’s  digital  government. The  Ministry  of  Information Technology and Telecommunications (MoITT) formulates national e-governance and ICT policies. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority  (PTA) regulates telecommunication  services and ensures cybersecurity standards.2 The National Information Technology Board (NITB) functions as primary implementing institution and responsible for developing, designing and implementing e-government projects across various ministries including the e-Office system, digitizaion of public services, and multiple MIS solutions.3

NADRA  is responsible for  national identity  management, biometric  systems, smart CNICs, SIM/banking verification, and supports initiatives like the Pakistan Single Window and Online Visa System. At the provincial level, the IT Boards of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and the IT Departments of Baluchistan and Sindh have the mandate to manage foundational IT infrastructure and to digitalize service delivery and enhance digital literacy.4

Challenges and the Way Forward

Lack of action plan and KPIs of digital transformation policies.

Although there are various digital transformation policies in place to foster digitalization in the public sector of Pakistan, proper action plans and KPIs are missing. According to the Asian Development Bank’s survey (2025) no department has reported having an open-source software policy/action  plan in place. This shows a low  level  of  commitment  from  the government institutions to promote e-governance in the country. The report further highlighted that all the five provinces surveyed reported having a digital transformation policy, however only one province reported that it has an action plan corresponding to the policy. It is important to make proper KPIs.

Resistance among public sector officials.

In Pakistan’s public sector, there is a resistance to public sector digitization among public officials who enjoy a lot of discretion in the workplace and they perceive the integration of technology into government systems as a threat to their authority. Recently there has been resistance from the officials record holders to the digitalization of land records in Punjab. To mitigate this barrier, the government should incentivize  the relevant public  officials, enhance capacity building, and improve digital literacy among public officials.

Limited digital infrastructure.

Access  to  internet  and  low  broadband  penatration  is  another  challenge  in  the  way  of e-government development in Pakistan. a large portion of population, especially in rural areas, is still  not  conntected  to  internet  and  mobile  service. Through  public-private  partnerships, government of Pakistan can boost broadband and fiber optic network. It is also recommended to establish Digital Service Hubs to enhance public access to digital services.

Low level of digital adoption and literacy.

There is limited digital adoption and literacy within public sector institutions as well as among the citizens. Lack of digital skills and trained IT personnel in public sector hinders the progress of e-government development. The government should invest in capacity building by introducing training and courses related to digital skills for the public sector employees to improve their digital skills and adoption of modern ICT tools. To improve the adoption among citizens, it is important to spread awareness, advertisement, and build trust. The government should collaborate with research organizations to study the factors affecting the adoption of e-government services so that it can be easy to formulate specific initiatives to improve adoption rate.

Conclusion

Pakistan is struggling in integrating ICTs into the governance system. E-governance can greatly improve the governance system, service provision, citizen  empowerment and transparency. Despite facing other major socioeconomic issues, Pakistan has shown a commitment to develop e-governance through policies’ formulation, e-government projects including portals for various services public services and communication. Since 2018, major e-government projects have been initiated to improve e-governance and the recent improved ranking reflcects  the progress. However,  compare to other countries, Pakistan’s ranking in UNEGDI is very low both globally and regionally, which shows there is a lot of room for improvement. Although there are policies related to digital transformation, proper KPIs and action plans are missing, due to which implementation and evaluation of policies is becoming hard. There is a need for proper IT infrastructure, digital literacy, better adoption rate, research based policy formulation, and capacity building in the public sector employees in order to effectively transform from conventional form of governance to electronic governance.

1. United Nations (2024). United Nations E-Government Survey 2024: Digital government in the decade of action for sustainable development. https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/Reports/UN-E-Government-Survey-2024

2. Pakistan’s Digital Ecosystem, ADB (2025). https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/1067316/pakistan-digital-ecosystem-diagnostic-report.pdf

3. National Information Technology Board. https://www.nitb.gov.pk/

4. The World Bank. 2023. Project Information Document (PID), Pakistan: Digital Economy Enhancement Project. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099455001172320746/pdf/P174402045311c010b4e10ea4415c52d4a.pdf

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