Germany has been described as an analogue country in a digital world. Meanwhile, Estonia has digitized all of its government services, including applying for divorce. How has Estonia become Europe's digital leader?

Tallinn

Estonia, a small nation in northeastern Europe, has become a model for digital governance after facing challenges following its independence in the early 1990s. Since the early 2000s, Estonia has steadily digitalized its government and society, allowing citizens to access services such as passport renewal, voting, and even marriage applications online.

The country's digital transformation is underpinned by strict adherence to European Union data protection regulations, distinguishing it from countries with less comprehensive safeguards. Estonia's approach has made it a standout example of effective digitalization within Europe, contrasting with nations that have yet to implement similar protections or services.

How Estonia outpaced the rest of Europe at digitalization

We are trying to become what people call a digital republic. The model that we are following is something that has been implemented in Estonia. Estonia, the small nation on the northeastern edge of the European Union, experienced several difficult years after regaining independence in the early 1990s. But then it embraced a digital transformation like few others. Since the beginning of 2000s, there has been a steady progress and approach to build and digitalize not just the government but the whole society. Today citizens can do almost everything online, from renewing their passports to voting in elections. And now you can also apply for getting married online, well you have to show up to actually say the commitments, but the application itself can be done now also digitally. But data protection rules in Estonia are very different from those in India. In case of Estonia, because European Union already has a data protection law in place, they follow it, they adhere to it and there are little safeguards. In India we don't have them. But there are only a few regions, shown in black on this map, where data is protected by regulations as rigid as those in the EU. We have data protection laws adopted or updated in virtually all of the jurisdictions of the world. But then the situation on the ground is very different.

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