KINGDOM OF

SWEDEN
Public Administration Country Profile
Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) United Nations April 2006

All papers, statistics and materials contained in the Country Profiles express entirely the opinion of the mentioned authors. They should not, unless otherwise mentioned, be attributed to the Secretariat of the United Nations. The designations employed and the presentation of material on maps in the Country Profiles do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Table of Contents Table of Contents........................................................................................... 1 Country ........................................................................................................ 2 1. General Information ................................................................................... 4 1.1 People.................................................................................................. 4 1.2 Economy .............................................................................................. 4 1.3 Public Spending ..................................................................................... 5 1.4 Public Sector Employment and Wages....................................................... 5 2. Legal Structure .......................................................................................... 6 2.1 Legislative Branch.................................................................................. 6 2.2 Executive Branch ................................................................................... 7 2.3 Judiciary Branch .................................................................................... 7 2.4 Local Government.................................................................................. 8 3. The State and Civil Society .......................................................................... 9 3.1 Ombudsperson ...................................................................................... 9 3.2 Civil Society .......................................................................................... 9 4. Civil Service .............................................................................................10 4.1 Legal basis...........................................................................................10 4.2 Recruitment .........................................................................................10 4.3 Promotion............................................................................................10 4.4 Remuneration ......................................................................................11 4.5 Gender................................................................................................11 4.6 Training...............................................................................................12 5. Ethics and Civil Service ..............................................................................13 5.1 Corruption ...........................................................................................13 5.2 Ethics..................................................................................................14 6. e-Government ..........................................................................................15 6.1 e-Government Readiness .......................................................................15 .2 e-Participation........................................................................................16 7. Links .......................................................................................................17 7.1 National sites .......................................................................................17 7.2 Miscellaneous sites................................................................................17

Sweden
Country Click here for detailed map Government type constitutional monarchy

Independence 6 June 1523 (Gustav VASA elected king)

Constitution 1 January 1975

Legal system civil law system influenced by customary law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations Administrative divisions 21 counties (lan, singular and plural)
Source: The World Factbook Sweden

Source: The World Factbook Sweden

As of the end of 2003, Sweden had a population of just under 9 million, with roughly 1.7 million in the Stockholm Metropolitan Area. Swedens economy was the 16th largest amongst 30 OECD countries in 2002. As in most other highly developed economies, services contribute the biggest share of total GDP. The public sector accounts for about 30% of all services provided in Sweden. The share of the secondary sector (including manufacturing) in GDP has recovered from its low point in the recession of the early 1990s. The IT sector has grown extremely rapidly and Sweden is now a world leader in investment in information and communications technology. Sweden is home to some highly influential companies in numerous sectors, including pharmaceuticals, transport equipment, construction, engineering, telecommunications, electronics, financial services, and retailing. Many of these companies, however, are now foreign-owned or in cross-border co-operations. Sweden has a heavy dependence on international trade. The value of exports and imports of goods amounted to around 46 and 38% respectively of nominal GDP in 2004. The composition of exports has changed from raw materials and semi-

manufactures at the end of World War II to items with a high value-added component such as transport equipment, pharmaceutical products and machinery. In 2003, Swedens major imports were electronics and telecommunication (17%) industrial machinery (12%), road vehicles (11%), food, beverages, tobacco (8.0%) and textiles, clothing, footwear (5.7%). Major exports were industrial machinery (16%), electronics and telecommunication (15%), road vehicles (14%), paper and paper products (8.5%) and pharmaceutical products (6.4%). Its major trading partners are the United States and Western Europe.
Source: OECD Report on the application of the convention on combating bribery of foreign public officials in international transactions (2005)

1. General Information
1.1 People
Population Total estimated population (,000), 2003 Female estimated population (,000), 2003 Male estimated population (,000), 2003 Sex ratio (males per 100 females), 2003 Average annual rate of change of pop. (%), 2000-2005 Youth and Elderly Population Total population under age 15 (%), 2003 Female population aged 60+ (%), 2003 Male population aged 60+ (%), 2003 Human Settlements Urban population (%), 2001 Rural population (%), 2001 Urban average annual rate of change in pop. (%), 00-05 Rural average annual rate of change in pop/ (%), 00-05 Education Total school life expectancy, 1999-2000 Female school life expectancy, 1999-2000 Male school life expectancy, 1999-2000 Female estimated adult (15+) illiteracy rate (%), 2000 Male estimated adult (15+) illiteracy rate (%), 2000 Employment Unemployment rate (15+) (%), 2000 Female adult (+15) economic activity rate (%), 2000 Male adult (+15) economic activity rate (%), 2000
Notes:
i

Sweden
8,877 4,481 4,396 98 0.09 18 26 21 83 17 -0.1 -0.27 15.9 16.8 15 .. .. 4.7 ii

Norway
4,533 2,287 2,246 98 0.43 20 22 17 75 25 0.74 -0.77 16.9 i 17.7 i 16.9 .. .. 3.4
ii ii i

Finland
5,207 2,664 2,543 95 0.18

1 a

18 24 17
c

59 41 0.07 0.07
d

16.7 i 17.3 i 16.2 .. .. 9.1

iii i

1 1 1 2 2

e
1 2 2

76
a

ii a

69

64 71

ii iii

80 ii a
Including armed forces.

78 ii

2000-2001,

ii

Persons aged 16 to 64 years,

iii

Persons aged 15 to 74 years,

1.2 Economy
GDP GDP total (millions US$), 2002 GDP per capita (US$), 2002 PPP GDP total (millions int. US$), 2002 PPP GDP per capita(int. US$), 2002 Sectors Value added in agriculture (% of GDP), 2003 Value added in industry (% of GDP), 2003 Value added in services (% of GDP), 2003 Miscellaneous GDP implicit price deflator (annual % growth), 2004 Private consumption (% of GDP), 2003 Government consumption (% of GDP), 2003

Sweden
229,772 25,748 225,913 25,315 1.8 27.9 70.3 0.8 49.0 28.3

Norway
189,436 41,735 163,609 36,045 3.5 30.5 66.0 1.0 52.4 22.1

Finland
130,797 25,158 134,442 25,859

2 a

1.5 37.5 61.0

c

4.8 46.2 22.6

1 a

United Nations Statistics Division: Statistics Division and Population Division of the UN Secretariat; b Statistics Division and Population Division of the UN Secretariat; c Population Division of the UN Secretariat; d1 UNESCO ; d2 UNESCO; e1 ILO; e2 ILO/OECD 2 World Bank - Data and Statistics: a Quick Reference Tables; b Data Profile Tables ; c Country at a Glance

1.3 Public Spending

Public expenditures Education (% of GNP), 1985-1987 Education (% of GNP), 1995-1997 Health (% of GDP), 1990 Health (% of GDP), 1998 Military (% of GDP), 1990 Military (% of GDP), 2000 Total debt service (% of GDP), 1990 Total debt service (% of GDP), 2000

Sweden 7.3 8.3 7.6 6.6 2.6 2.1 .. ..

i

Norway 6.5 7.7 6.4 7

ii i

Finland
3

5.5 7.5 6.4 5.2 1.6 1.3 .. ..

ii i

a a

2.9 1.8 .. ..

b b

Notes: I Data may not be strictly comparable with those for earlier years as a result of methodological changes, ii Data refer to 1999,

1.4 Public Sector Employment and Wages

Data from the latest year available

Sweden 1991-1995

Sweden 1996-2000

European Union Average4 1996-2000

High income OECD average4 1996-2000

High income group average4 1996-2000

Employment
Civilian Central Government5 (,000) (% pop.) (,000) (% pop.) (,000) (% pop.) (,000) (% pop.) (,000) (% pop.) (,000) (% pop.) (,000) (% pop.) (,000) (% pop.) 355 4.1 832 9.4 286 3.3 215 2.5 28 0.3 64 0.7 144 1.7 .. .. 204 2.3 .. .. 113 1.3 .. .. .. .. 53 0.6 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 0.5 .. 0.5 .. .. .. 1.2 .. 1.1 1.2 .. 1.3 4.1 .. 2.8 4.1 .. 2.8

Sub-national Government5

Education employees

Health employees

Police

Armed forces

SOE Employees

Total Public Employment

Total Central gov't wage bill Total Central govt wage bill Average gov't wage Real ave. govt wage ('97 price)

(% of GDP) (% of exp) (,000 LCU) (,000 LCU)

4.0 5.3 163 .. 1.0

2.7 8.0 230.8 231 1.1

3.6 12.8

.. ..

4.2 16.4

Average govt wage to per capita GDP ratio

..

..

..

Source: World Bank - Public Sector Employment and Wages

3
a b

UNDP - Human Development Report 2002 Data refer to total public expenditure on education, including current and capital expenditures. As a result of a number of limitations in the data, comparisons of military expenditure data over time and across countries should be made with caution. For detailed notes on the data see SIPRI (2001). 4 Averages for regions and sub regions are only generated if data is available for at least 35% of the countries in that region or sub region. 5 Excluding education, health and police if available (view Country Sources for further explanations).

2. Legal Structure
Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy. Swedens constitution of four fundamental laws. The four fundamental laws are the Instrument of Government, the Act of Succession, the Freedom of the Press Act and the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression. The fundamental laws contain the basic rules for political decision-making in Sweden. The Instrumemnt of Government contains rules on the realisation of democracy in Sweden and on the division of power between the Riksdag, Government, municipalities and county councils and courts. It also sets out the fundamental rights and freedoms enjoyed by the people of Sweden.
Source: Swedish Parliament (2005) & OECD Report on the application of the convention on combating bribery of foreign public officials in international transactions (2000)

2.1 Legislative Branch

unicameral Parliament or Riksdag (349 seats; members are elected by popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms)6 Women in parliament: lower house 158 out of 349 seats (45.3%) 7

The legislative branch consists of a 349-seat unicameral Riksdag (Parliament) whose members are directly elected by popular vote to four-year terms. The Riksdag's tasks include enacting laws and determining taxes and the central government budget. It is also responsible for examining the Government and the public agencies in Sweden. Legislative
proposals can also come in the form of a private member's motion from one or several members of the Riksdag.

Fact box:
elections: last held 15 September 2002 (next to be held on 17 September 2006) election results: percent of vote by party - Social Democrats 39.8%, Moderates 15.2%, Liberal Party 13.3%, Christian Democrats 9.1%, Left Party 8.3%, Center Party 6.1%, Greens 4.6%; seats by party - Social Democrats 144, Moderates 55, Liberal Party 48, Christian Democrats 33, Left Party 30, Center Party 22, Greens

The Speaker presides over the work in the Riksdag. The Riksdag appoints the Prime Minister on the basis of a proposal from the Speaker. The Prime Minister then appoints the ministers who are to make up the Government.

The Riksdag is responsible for determining central 17.8 government expenditure and revenue. It does this after the Government has submitted proposals in the Budget Bill as to how the money at the disposal of the central government sector should be used. Once the Riksdag has taken a decision on the central government budget, the Government is responsible for the budget and for implementing the Riksdag's decision.
Source: Swedish Parliament (2005) & OECD Report on the application of the convention on combating bribery of foreign public officials in international transactions (2000)

6 7 8

Source of fact boxes if nothing else stated: The World Factbook Sweden Inter-Parliamentary Union - Women in National Parliaments Source of fact boxes if nothing else stated: The World Factbook Sweden

2.2 Executive Branch

cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the prime minister elections: the monarchy is hereditary; following legislative elections, the prime minister is elected by the parliament; election last held 15 September 2002 (next to be held in September 2006) election results: Goran PERSSON reelected prime minister with 131 out of 349 votes

The head of government is the elected Prime Minister, who appoints the cabinet. The Prime Minister appoints the ministers who are to be included in the Government and also determines which of the ministers are to be Heads of Ministries. Together, the Prime Minister and Ministers form the Government of Sweden. Most ministers are members Riksdag, but politicians without a seat in Riksdag and independent experts with no direct political affiliation may also be appointed to serve in government. The Cabinet members, including the Prime Minister, resign their seats in Parliament while holding Cabinet office. Ministers do not have to be elected to Parliament to serve in the Cabinet.

Fact box: chief of state: King CARL XVI GUSTAF (since 19 September 1973); Heir Apparent Princess VICTORIA Ingrid Alice Desiree, daughter of the monarch (born 14 July 1977) head of government: Prime Minister Goran PERSSON (since 21 March 1996)

Source: The Government of Sweden and the Government Offices (2005) -edited

2.3 Judiciary Branch

Supreme Court or Hogsta Domstolen (judges are appointed by the prime minister and the cabinet)

The justices of the supreme court are, it is true, appointed by the government but they hold office until they retire at the age of 65. The government has no possibility of interfering with the decisions of the Supreme Court, only the power to grant pardon in criminal cases. The legal system in Sweden is based on civil law. Today the court consists of 16 justices, some of whom serve in the Council on Legislation (lagrdet) where they give opinions on law proposals before these are submitted to the Riksdag (the Parliament). The Supreme Court is divided into two chambers, each with a presiding justice. One of the chairmen is also chairman of the court. Five (in some cases three) justices have to be present to form a quorum. When legal principles of special importance are at issue, a case may be submitted to nine justices or to the full court for final decision. There are three kinds of courts in Sweden: the general courts, which comprise district courts, courts of appeal and the Supreme Court; the general administrative courts, that is to say, county administrative courts, administrative courts of appeal and the Supreme Administrative Court; and the special courts, which determine disputes within special areas, for example, the Labour Court and the Market Court.The National Courts Administration is the central administrative agency for public courts, public administrative courts, regional tenancies tribunals, regional rent tribunals and the National Legal Aid Authority.
Source: The Government of Sweden and the Government Offices (2005) - Ministry of Justice

2.4 Local Government The 1992 Swedish Local Government Act regulates division into municipalities and the organisation and powers of the municipalities and county councils. It also contains rules for elected representatives, municipal councils, executive boards and committees. Sweden has 290 municipalities, each of which is run by a municipal council. In the municipal councils, a body of local politicians takes decisions regarding the municipality. These decisions are concerned with issues like, to build a new swimming pool facility or to open a new child daycare centre. Political decisions in the county council are taken by an elected council. On a regional level, Sweden is divided into 21 counties. Political tasks at this level are undertaken on the one hand by the county councils, whose decision-makers are directly elected by the people of the county and, on the other, by the county administrative boards which are government bodies in the counties. Some public authorities also operate at regional and local levels, for example through county boards. On a local level, Sweden has 290 municipalities. Each municipality has an elected assembly, the municipal council, which takes decisions on municipal matters. The municipal council appoints the municipal executive board, which leads and coordinates municipality work.
Source: The Government of Sweden and the Government Offices (2005) & Swedish Parliament (2005) edited

3. The State and Civil Society

3.1 Ombudsperson Members of the public who are dissatisfied with a public agency's handling of a matter can lodge a complaint with the Parliamentary Ombudsmen. A complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsmen (Riksdagens ombudsmn) which is the official name of the Institution - can be made by any person who feels they have been treated wrongly or unjustly by a public authority or an official employed by the civil service or local government. The Ombudsperson has no jurisdiction, however, over the actions of members of the Swedish Riksdag (Parliament), the government or individual members of the cabinet, the Chancellor of Justice or members of county or municpal councils. The role of the ombudsperson is inshrinned in the consitution. Sweden has an Ombudsman for Children (Barnombudsmanne), 'Ethnic Discrimination Ombudsman, Ombudsman against Discrimination on Grounds of Sexual Orientation, Equal Opportunities Ombudsman (Jmstlldhetsombudsmannen), the Swedish Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket), and Swedish Press Ombudsman.
Source: Parliament of Sweden (2005) and Parliamentary Ombudsman in Sweden (2004) - edited

3.2 Civil Society The two main types of nonprofit organizations in Sweden are the nonprofit association (ideell frening) and the foundation (stiftelse). There is no specific legislation on these two legal entities and neither is well-defined, but the distinction between association (frening) and foundation (stiftelse) is crucial. Other concepts that are important in defining the sector are the notion of membership, and the orientation toward the public good. In areas such as culture, adult education and sports, the state consistently supports nonprofit organizations through grants and in-kind assistance. However, in health services, social welfare, and education (except adult education), the state's policy has been directed toward equal rights reforms. Therefore, most of the important services in these areas have been produced by the public sector, while nonprofit organizations played a comparatively minor role. At the local level, however, members and professionals from nonprofit organizations are making important contributions, often informally and through volunteer work, that supplement service production in the public sector. In social service and health these include activities that support the elderly, the homeless, persons with alcohol or drug-related problems, hospital patients, and persons under correctional care. Swedish municipalities have a high degree of autonomy and play a crucial part in areas such as education, social assistance, child care, care of the elderly, leisure. In most of these areas nonprofit organizations cooperate with the municipalities and are highly dependent on them for support.
Source: John Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies Working Papers of the John Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project Sweden (1995)

4. Civil Service
Some 250 of an approximate total of 1.3 million public sector employees are employed by the central government administration. The public sector in Sweden is responsible for one third of the labour market while government agency employees account for approximately 270 agencies. Under the Swedish constitution, individual ministers are not permitted to influence agencies exercise of public. Since 1 July 1994, the Government has delegated employer policy responsibility to the Swedish Agency for Government Employers (SAGE). The Government and Parliament do not have directly influence the content of collective agreements on pay or other conditions of employment for staff in the central government sector. Instead, SAGE acts on behalf of instructions from its members, which are all public administrations in the central government sector.
Source: Swedish agency for Government Employers (SAFE)

4.1 Legal basis In principle the same overall labour law applies to the public sector as to other sectors in the labour market. Certain separate regulations do exist, for example, concerning the responsibilities of particular posts or as concerns industrial disputes in certain government agencies, but in general the underlying regulations are identical. There is no life-long employment guarantee in central government post.
Source: Swedish agency for Government Employers (SAFE) Central Government and delegated employer responsibility a Swedish model

4.2 Recruitment The Swedish Constitution sets out the criteria for selecting staff to central government posts. There are minimum educational requirements for certain occupations (like judge and police officer), but the Public Employment Act specifies that priority be given to skills and competence. The government appoints Director-general who head agencies and, in a few cases, other senior officials while all other staff is recruited by each individual agency. Consequently there is no central recruitment procedure into a civil service career as such. Instead, each agency determines the staff it requires.
Source: Swedish agency for Government Employers (SAFE) Central Government and delegated employer responsibility a Swedish model & the World Bank

4.3 Promotion Sweden has position-based systems which are less likely to include criteria based on academic qualifications. Careers in the tradition sense still exist for groups such a judges, prosecutors, the police and Foreign Service staff. In these cases the respective agency is still responsible for appointment and training. In general career development for central government employees is often achieved through the development of his or her duties within in the same position. Central government employees are given no precendence when applying for vacant posts

10

within the administration and compete on equal terms with applicants from other sectors.
Source: Swedish agency for Government Employers (SAFE) Central Government and delegated employer responsibility a Swedish model & the World Bank

4.4 Remuneration Salary levels and other employment conditions for central government are established in collective agreements. Employment conditions are largely similar to those valid for the rest of the labor market. The Swedish Agency for Government Employers (SAFE) has delegated the authority and responsibility to negotiate and decide on employment conditions to the individual agencies. Individual salaries are set on the basis of the differentials and responsibilities inherent in the post, the performance of he employee and the impact of the market situation on employment condition.
Source: Department of Finance - Report on public service benchmarks body (2002)

4.5 Gender In Sweden there are no categories in which women outnumber men, even in respect of the lowest-skilled jobs. However, the same tendency as elsewhere regarding the representation of women is observed in Swedeni.e., that the higher the required level of skills, the lower the representation of women in that category. In order to get a comparative perspective on how the distribution of women across occupational groups has evolved, the ratio of the percentage of women in the group requiring the highest qualifications to the percentage of women in the group requiring the lowest qualifications was calculated for two different years. It gives an indication of how womens jobs have been redistributed by occupational group.
Source: OECD Structure of the civil service employment in seven OECD countries (1999)

Sweden percentage of women per grade in the Swedish civil service

Source: OECD Structure of the civil service employment in seven OECD countries (1999)

11

4.6 Training The Swedish Institute for Public Administration - was established in 1979 as a Government agency providing training and consultancy services to the Swedish civil service. In 1992 the Institute was privatised and is presently a limited company owned by its senior staff.
Source: Swedish Institution for Public Administration (2006)*

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5. Ethics and Civil Service

5.1 Corruption 2003 CPI Score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts and ranges between 10 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt).
Corruption Perceptions Index
2003 CPI Score Surveys Used Standard Deviation High-Low Range Number Inst. 90 percent confidence range

Rank 1 6 133

Country Highly clean Sweden Highly corrupt 9.7 9.3 1.3 8 11 8 0.3 0.2 0.7 9.2 - 10.0 8.8 - 9.6 0.3 - 2.2 4 7 6 9.5 - 9.9 9.2 - 9.4 0.9 - 1.7

Source: Transparency International - Corruption Perceptions Index 2003 Surveys Used: Refers to the number of surveys that were used to assess a country's performance. 17 surveys were used and at least 3 surveys were required for a country to be included in the CPI. Standard Deviation: Indicates differences in the values of the sources. Values below 0.5 indicate agreement, values between 0.5 and c. 0.9 indicate some agreement, while values equal or larger than 1 indicate disagreement. High-Low Range: Provides the highest and lowest values of the sources. Number Institutions: Refers to the number of independent institutions that assessed a country's performance. Since some institutions provided more than one survey. 90 percent confidence range: Provides a range of possible values of the CPI score. With 5 percent probability the score is above this range and with another 5 percent it is below.

In 2003, the Prosecutor-General created the National Anti-Corruption Unit (NACU). The unit initially consisted of three prosecutors but expanded to five prosecutors and one economist in spring 2005. The NACU focuses on corruption and corruptionrelated crimes nationwide and has handled high-profile corruption cases. Since the NACU has the same powers and functions as other public prosecutors, it is also competent in foreign bribery cases. The NACU does not have its own police officers or investigators, and hence it works and co-operates with the local and regional police and national investigators. In addition the National Economic Crimes Bureau (ECB), which was established in 1998 is led by a Director-General, who is subordinate to the Prosecutor-General in prosecution issues. The ECB has approximately 400 personnel including prosecutors, police officers, economic investigators (e.g. forensic accountants) and administrative staff.51 The ECB is responsible for all cases involving tax offences, bankruptcy offences, insider trading or EU fraud. The ECB may also assume responsibility for cases involving corruption, fraud, embezzlement and other similar crimes if they require expertise in taxation, business practices or bookkeeping. The ECB is active mainly in three metropolitan regions (Stockholm, Gteborg and Malm). It is divided into three departments, each of which is further divided into offices and headed by a prosecutor. A detective superintendent supervises police officers operating under the ECB. Furthermore, the private sector adopted measures to prevent bribery of foreign public officials. The Anti-Corruption Institute, since its establishment in 1923, has continuously engaged in activities to fight corruption. The Institute is a private entity and appears to be held in high regard by the private sector. Recently, the Institute issued guidelines to companies on how to develop policies and guidelines against corruption. 13

Source : OECD Report on the application of the convention on combating bribery of foreign public officials in international transactions (2005)

5.2 Ethics The principal of public access grants the general public and the media access to documents held by central and local government. This principal is enshrined in the Swedish constitution and is the corner stones of the Swedish legal and administrative system. The provision on freedom of speech in principle means that public sector employees are entitled to give out information in their possession to third parties.
Source: Swedish agency for Government Employers (SAFE) Central Government and delegated employer responsibility a Swedish model

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6. e-Government

e-Government Readiness Index: The index refers to the generic capacity or aptitude of the public sector to use ICT for encapsulating in public services and deploying to the public, high quality information (explicit knowledge) and effective communication tools that support human development. The index is comprised of three sub-indexes: Web Measure Index, Telecommunications Infrastructure Index and Human Capital Index.

6.1 e-Government Readiness

e-Government Readiness Index

0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0
ay K nc e d or w Fr a m an y ed e la n Sw Fi n Ire l
Human Capital Index
Ire la nd

Web Measure Index: A scale based on progressively sophisticated web services present. Coverage and sophistication of stateprovided e-service and e-product availability correspond to a numerical classification.

Source: United Nations World Public Sector Report 2003

Web Measure Index 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0
ay

Telecom. Infrastructure Index

Telecommunications Infrastructure Index: A composite, weighted average index of six primary indices, based on basic infrastructural indicators that define a country's ICT infrastructure capacity. Primary indicators are: PCs, Internet users, online population and Mobile phones. Secondary indicators are TVs and telephone lines.

ce

G er

la n

ed e

or w

Fr an

Source: United Nations World Public Sector Report 2003

Human Capital Index: A composite of the adult literacy rate and the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio, with two thirds of the weight given to adult literacy and one third to the gross enrolment ratio.

15

G er m

Sw

Fi n

an y

an d

e-Participation Index: Refers to the willingness, on the part of the government, to use ICT to provide high quality information (explicit knowledge) and effective communication tools for the specific purpose of empowerring people for able participation in consultations and decision-making both in their capacity as consumers of public services and as citizens.

.2 e-Participation

e-Participation Index

1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0

Fi nl an d

Fr an ce

ay

N or w

Sw

e-information: The government websites offer information on policies and programs, budgets, laws and regulations, and other briefs of key public interest. Tools for disseminating of information exist for timely access and use of public information, including web forums, e-mail lists, newsgroups and chat rooms.

Source: United Nations World Public Sector Report 2003

e-information 30 25 20 15 10

e-decision making

er m

e-consultation

e-decision making: The government indicates that it will take citizens input into account in decision making and provides actual feedback on the outcome of specific issues.

5 0

UK

ay

Fr an ce

nl an d

an y G er m

Sw ed en

No rw

Fi

Source: United Nations World Public Sector Report 2003

e-consultation: The government website explains e-consultation mechanisms and tools. It offers a choice of public policy topics online for discussion with real time and archived access to audios and videos of public meetings. The government encourages citizens to participate in discussions.

16

Ire la nd

Ire la nd

ed en

an y

7. Links

7.1 National sites Authority Topic http://www.riksdagen.se http://www.sweden.gov.se http://www.hogstadomstolen.se/ http://www.jo.se http://www.arbetsgivarverket.se/ http://www.sipu.se/

Parliament of Sweden The Government of Sweden and the Government Offices The Supreme Court of Sweden Swedish parliamentary ombudsman Swedish Agency for Government Employers (SAGE) The Swedish Institute for Public Administration

7.2 Miscellaneous sites Institution Topic http://www.oecd.org http://www.worldbank.org http://www.europa.eu.int

OECD World Bank European Union

17