AI readiness and digital government

How prepared states are to design, implement and enforce AI policy, and how that preparedness has moved since 2018.

Key messages

Saudi Arabia moved from position 52 to position 6 on the UN e-government index between 2018 and 2024, the largest advance in the region.
Nine of 17 states with comparable data improved their AI readiness score between 2020 and 2025; Saudi Arabia (+15.34), Jordan (+14.31) and Egypt (+9.91) gained most.
Egypt shows that steady improvement is possible outside the high-income group.
The 2025 Oxford Insights edition revised its method, so changes between 2023 and 2025 combine real movement with method effects.

Nine of 17 states improved their score over the period. Saudi Arabia gained 15.34 points and moved ahead of the United Arab Emirates in 2025; Jordan gained 14.31, Egypt 9.91 and Algeria 8.58. Eight states recorded lower scores in 2025 than in 2020, among them states in fragile or conflict-affected contexts.

On the UN index the largest advances were recorded by Saudi Arabia (position 52 to 6), Oman (63 to 41), the United Arab Emirates (21 to 11) and Bahrain (26 to 18). Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Jordan also improved their positions.

Figure 4Saudi Arabia and the UAE lead the Oxford Insights index; Egypt and Jordan show the steadiest gains outside the Gulf

Select flags to add or remove states (up to five). Source: Oxford Insights Government AI Readiness Index (CC BY-SA 4.0), table F5. The 2025 edition revised the pillar method.

Figure 5Nine of 17 states improved their AI readiness score between 2020 and 2025, led by Saudi Arabia and Jordan

SAU+15.34 JOR+14.31 EGY+9.91 DZA+8.58 MAR+6.64 OMN+5.95 BHR+4.82 SYR+2.39 QAT+1.83 LBN−1.65 MRT−1.84 TUN−2.16 UAE−2.54 IRQ−4.51 YEM−4.59 KWT−6.82 SDN−10.14

Source: computed from table F5. Libya and Palestine are omitted: no comparable 2020 value.

Figure 6On the UN e-government index, Saudi Arabia moved from rank 52 to rank 6 between 2018 and 2024

20182024

SAU0.9602 UAE0.9533 BHR0.9196 OMN0.8576 QAT0.8244 KWT0.7812 TUN0.6935 JOR0.6849 MAR0.6841 EGY0.6699 DZA0.5956 LBY0.5466 LBN0.5449 IRQ0.4572 SYR0.3888 YEM0.2318

Source: UN DESA E-Government Survey 2018 and 2024, table F6.

Table 2AI readiness and e-government development by state

State	Oxford 2020	Oxford 2023	Oxford 2025	Change 2020 to 2025	EGDI 2018	EGDI 2024	EGDI rank 2018	EGDI rank 2024
UAE	72.40	70.42	69.86	−2.54	0.8295	0.9533	21	11
SAU	56.23	67.04	71.57	+15.34	0.7119	0.9602	52	6
QAT	56.78	63.59	58.61	+1.83	0.7132	0.8244	51	53
BHR	54.75	56.13	59.57	+4.82	0.8116	0.9196	26	18
KWT	50.61	49.86	43.79	−6.82	0.7388	0.7812	41	66
OMN	50.78	58.94	56.73	+5.95	0.6846	0.8576	63	41
EGY	49.19	52.69	59.10	+9.91	0.4880	0.6699	114	95
MAR	36.42	43.34	43.06	+6.64	0.5214	0.6841	110	90
TUN	44.39	46.07	42.23	−2.16	0.6254	0.6935	80	87
DZA	33.47	35.99	42.05	+8.58	0.4227	0.5956	130	116
LBY	n/a	25.31	28.38	n/a	0.3833	0.5466	140	125
MRT	29.42	27.09	27.58	−1.84	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
JOR	41.76	56.85	56.07	+14.31	0.5575	0.6849	98	89
LBN	35.91	47.62	34.26	−1.65	0.5530	0.5449	99	126
PSE	n/a	33.14	35.54	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
SYR	19.33	18.12	21.72	+2.39	0.3459	0.3888	152	162
IRQ	33.88	33.40	29.37	−4.51	0.3376	0.4572	155	148
YEM	19.07	19.89	14.48	−4.59	0.2154	0.2318	186	185
SDN	26.35	18.26	16.21	−10.14	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Note. The Libya 2020 Oxford value carried an unexplained flag in the earlier site table and is withheld pending a check against F5. Comoros, Djibouti and Somalia are at the Nascent stage; their indicator values are not displayed in the 2025 release.

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