Analytics, Internet, Latvia, Society, Technology

The study finds that the total number of users of e-services has not changed from the last time the study was conducted, but the proportion of those who use e-services of public institutions has increased 7% to 60%.

The findings of the survey also show that, if an e-service of a state or municipal institution is also available online, increasingly more residents prefer to use it instead of visiting the institution in person – in six months, the proportion has increased 8% to 38%.

"The survey's findings demonstrate that residents increasingly more often rely on e-services," notes the Environmental Protection and Regional Development Ministry's Deputy State Secretary Arnis Daugulis. On the other hand, the number of those who prefer to visit state and municipal institutions in person – as they believe that this ensures better protection from making some kind of a mistake – is reducing. "As the attitude is changing, residents increasingly often communicate with public institutions electronically. In turn, this logically leads to technical questions about using e-services, residents' computer literacy, access to the Internet."

Respondents who said they preferred to visit state and municipal institutions in person said they did so as they feared making some mistake, or because they were not very confident in their computer skills.

The survey is carried out twice a year, the last one was in June 2015 when 1,000 respondents were interviewed in various places across Latvia.