The survey ranks countries in accordance with the E-Government Development Index (EGDI), a composite indicator measuring the willingness and capacity of national administrations to use information and communication technologies to deliver public services.

The EGDI is a weighted average of three normalized scores on the most important dimensions of e-government, namely: scope and quality of online services, development status of telecommunication infrastructure, and inherent human capital. Each of these sets of indexes is itself a composite measure that can be extracted and analyzed independently.

The government of the Republic of Korea maintained its first rank position in e-government, which it earned in 2010. The Netherlands is now ranked second, three positions higher than in 2010. The United Kingdom advanced by one position to become the third most advanced e-government in the world.

Denmark, the United States, France and Sweden follow closely behind, while Spain has dropped fourteen positions to twenty-third place.