OECD Government at a Glance 2023
Elsa Pilichowski Director for Public Governance, OECD
30 June 2023
Governments are working in a context of multiple crises
Perceptions of global economic policy uncertainty have increased since 2009
Uncertainty about the economic outlook is high and the upturn remains fragile
General government fiscal balance as a % of GDP; OECD area and largest OECD economies, 2007-2022
2 Source: Government at a Glance 2023, based on Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 2 December 2022, https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GEPUCURRENT. Global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index, 1997-2021 -20.0 -15.0 -10.0 -5.0 0.0 5.0 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 OECD OECD-EU JPN GBR USA
Governments in OECD countries are seen as generally reliable and resilient
Most people are broadly satisfied with public services and about half of the population (49%) expects the government to be prepared for the next pandemic.
Satisfaction with public services, OECD average, 2021
People’s expectation on government preparedness for the next pandemic, OECD average, 2021
3
Source: Government at a Glance 2023 49% 14% 33% 4% Likely Neutral Unlikely Don't know
61.7% 11.3% 24.8% 2.1% 57.6% 12.6% 24.1% 5.8% 63.0% 13.6% 17.4% 6.0% Healthcare
Education Administrative services
Investments in democratic resilience are needed in the current polycrisisenvironment
An even split between those who report high or moderately high trust and those with no or low trust.
Disadvantaged groups have lower levels of trust in government
Share of respondents who indicate different levels of trust in their national government (on a 0-10 scale), 2021
4
Source: Government at a Glance 2023 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% OECD total respondents Low educated Young (age 18-29) Financially vulnerable High or moderately high trust Neutral Low or no trust Don't know
Three priorities for democratic resilience
Three priorities for governments to strengthen trust in government and reinforce democratic resilience:
1. Build on democratic strengths such as citizen and stakeholder participation and representation
2. Reinforce key governance competencies to support delivery in the context of multiple crises
3. Protect against active threats to public trust arising from failings in public integrity and mis- or disinformation
5
Source: Government at a Glance 2023
Build on democratic strengths: political voice
Half say the political system does not let them have a say in what the government does
Share of respondents reporting different levels of confidence that the political system lets them have a say in government decision making (0-10 scale), 2021
Confident they have a say
Not confident they have a say
know
6
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Neutral
Don't
Source: Government at a Glance 2023
Build on democratic strengths: more effective citizen and stakeholder engagement
There has been limited improvement in stakeholder engagement in regulations
New processes to give citizens a greater voice are emerging
Number of deliberative processes in 24 OECD countries, 1979-2021 Stakeholder engagement on subordinate regulations, 2021
Number
7
Index (0-4 maximum), OECD average 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 1979-1990 1991-2001 2002-2011 2012-2021
of
processes
Source: Government at a Glance 2023 2.11 2.12 0 1 2 3 4 2018 2021 16 countries slightly improved
Build on democratic strengths: improved diversity in policy making
Women and young people remain underrepresented in politics
Youth and women representation in parliament, OECD, 2022
Governments are building up their tools to meet gender equality policy goals
OECD Gender Budgeting Index, (0-1 max), 2022
8
22.8% 33.8% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% Youth Women
Source: Government at a Glance 2023 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 Strategic framework
and tools Accountability and transparency Enabling environment Demonstrates impact 0.49
Methods
Reinforce key competencies to handle crises: governing the green transition
Significant room for manoeuvre exists to strengthen the tools for governing green
OECD index on governance for greening infrastructure (0-1 max), 2022
Source: Government at a Glance 2023
Enabling conditions for climate resilient infrastructure Planning of climate resilient infrastructure
Project prioritisation and appraisal based on climate Green capital budgeting and infrastructure financing
Monitoring environmental and climate impact throughout the life cycle
9
0.52 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 Index on governance for greening infrastructure
Reinforce key competencies to handle crises: Enhanced capacity and resilience of the public workforce
Stepping up on managing an agile public sector workforce in the changing world of work
Share of OECD countries with incentives for employees learning and development in central government, 2022
10
97% 69% 69% 50% 42% 17% 11% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Self selection of training programmes Extra time for training Criteria of performance Individual learning plans
in promotion decisions Point scheme for attending training Requirement of minimum time Source: Government at a Glance 2023
Considered
Protect against threats: implement safeguards to reinforce integrity
Addressing citizens increasing expectations about public integrity
Percent of integrity standards existing in regulations and in practice in OECD countries, 2022
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Source: Government at a Glance 2023 38% 66% 76% 33% 55% 33% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Lobbying Political finance Conflict of interest
safeguards Safeguard in practice
Regulatory
Conclusions
Maintaining democraticresilience in a poly-crisis environment willinvolve to:
Build on democratic strengthssuch as citizen andstakeholderparticipationand representation
Reinforce keygovernancecompetencies to supportdelivery in the contextof multiple crises
Protect against active threats to public trust arising from failings in public integrity and mis- ordisinformation
• Data play akey role in doingwhat democracies dobest: learning from reliable evidence, citizensviews, and opendebate; andcontinuouslyimprove,shareexperiences acrosscountries,and build a bettersocietyforall.
12 •
DRAFT / UNDER DEVELOPMENT 13 Thank you Discover more about the OECD Directorate for Public Governance at www.oecd.org/gov/ Find out more about the Government at a Glance at: www.oecd.org/publication/government-at-a-glance/2023/
