The 2024 State of the Digital Decade report tracks the EU’s progress towards a digital transformation that benefits people, businesses, and the environment.
Europe’s Path Towards Its Digital Transformation
Every year starting from 2023, the European Commission publishes the State of the Digital Decade. The report explores the progress of the EU in its digital transformation, measured in 4 key areas: digital infrastructure, digital skills, digitalisation of public services and digitalisation of businesses. This years' report also explores key drivers and challenges, including the current geopolitical paradigm, the complex economic context, influenced by new technologies such as generative AI, and their impact on competitiveness. It highlights the need to keep people and societies engaged in an increasingly hybrid and complex context. Finally, the publication also highlights the EU’s position as a global policy innovator and discusses how to strengthen the EU’s industrial basis.
For the first time, the 2024 report evaluates the National Digital Decade Strategic Roadmaps adopted by Member States in 2023. It also provides an overview of their digitalisation efforts, offers recommendations for improvement, and monitors the application of the European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles.
The 2024 State of the Digital Decade report is a wakeup call, urging Member States to make greater efforts. It identifies as main issues the lack of sufficient progress towards objectives and targets, and significant disparities among Member States. These issues are analysed in clusters, defined around their contribution to:
- a competitive, sovereign, and resilient EU
- protecting and empowering people
- leveraging digital transformation for smart greening
- harmonising digital policies and spending
Mapping Progress
The success of the Digital Decade is paramount for the Europe’s prosperity and competitiveness. The targets emphasise not just economic growth, but also our societal well-being. The Digital Decade represents a significant opportunity for the EU to shape its future, leveraging digital technologies to drive innovation, improve quality of life, and ensure a sustainable and inclusive society.
However, the 2024 State of the Digital Decade report raises concerns about the EU’s performance in its digital transformation. Urgent actions are needed to speed up progress and ensure a coordinated approach. The EU has not yet fully achieved convergence on most targets and objectives, and the pace of progress on some targets is slower than anticipated. This is particularly true in the fields of skills, high-quality connectivity, the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data analytics by businesses, semiconductors, and start-up ecosystems. Moreover, the full potential of the Digital Single Market is yet to be untapped, especially because the digital transition still needs to be completed.
Progress at both the national and EU levels has been inadequate, and there is still a considerable amount of fragmentation along national lines. The report highlights the necessity for Member States to collaborate and maintain the commitments they have assumed on their strategic roadmaps.
How to navigate the different reports?
Below you will be able to download the main report and its annexes. You will also find 2 Staff Working Documents (SWDs) and a methodological note followed by a range of supporting studies. Most of the links lead to downloadable PDF versions.
- The ‘State of the Digital Decade 2024’ Communication takes stock of the EU’s progress towards a successful digital transformation, as set out in the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030.
- Annex 1 ‘Competitiveness and sovereignty, people, smart greening, policy coherence and synergies’ describes the progress at EU level on the different dimensions tracked by the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030, and the effect on the EU's economy and society.
- Annex 2 ‘Update of the EU-level projected trajectories for the digital targets’ maps the projected trajectories by 2030 of Member States, based on available data
- Annex 3 ‘Short EU 27 Member States reports' includes a 2-page summaries of country reports:
- The SWD on Country chapters delineate in full each Member State's progress in the targets and objectives in the last year. You can download the individual report for each country or download the SWD divided into the following 6 parts:
- The ‘DESI Methodological Note’ defines the methodology used to track the EU's progress.
- The SWD ‘Digital Decade in 2024: Implementation and perspective’ part 1 and part 2.
- Annex 1 ‘List of relevant policy initiatives’ takes stock of the policy initiatives that contribute to foster our digital economy and protect European citizens online.
- Annex 2 ‘Update on MCPs / EDICs’ describes the current state of play of cross-border projects that bring Member States to collaborate together with and within the EU
- Annex 3 ‘Analysis of national Digital Decade strategic roadmaps’ provides an in-depth analysis of Member States' roadmaps, including the measures, actions and budget dedicated to achieving the targets and objectives of the Digital Decade.
- Annex 4 ‘Monitoring of the European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles’ analyses in detail the advancement towards the Digital Decade objectives and the implementation of Digital Rights and Principles.
The package also includes:
- The International benchmarking study benchmarks the EU against seven non-EU countries identified as digitalisation global best performers (Australia, China, Israel, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States) on the four cardinal points of the Digital Decade.
- Study: Monitoring of the Implementation of the Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles
- The Broadband coverage study monitors the Member States progress towards targets set out in the Digital Decade Policy programme, namely: ‘Gigabit connectivity for all by 2030’ and ‘at least 5G in all populated areas.’
- The eGovernment study monitors Europe’s digitalisation of public services in 2023.
- The eHealth study presents the results of the baseline assessment on EU27 countries towards delivering the e-health target of 100% EU citizens’ access to electronic health records by 2030.
- The State of the Digital Decade Eurobarometer 2024 presents the European citizens' view and opinion on key aspects of the digital transformation in the 27 EU Member States.
- The 5G Observatory Report assesses the progress made towards goal for Europe to be the most connected continent by 2030.
Related Content
Big Picture
The EU is pursuing a human-centric, sustainable vision for digital society throughout the digital decade to empower citizens and businesses.
See Also
Member States must submit to the Commission national roadmaps, detailing the actions they plan to implement to collectively reach the 2030 Digital Decade goals.
The European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC) is a legal framework aiding Member States to set up and implement multi-country projects.
The DigitalEU Ambassadors bring together journalists, editors and influencers, active in the field of digital & tech topics.
The European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles promotes a digital transition shaped by European values.
Leading the Digital Decade, held 1-2 June, was a two-day online event focused on Europe’s digital transformation towards 2030.
From 2014 to 2022, the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) summarised indicators on Europe’s digital performance and tracked the progress of EU countries.