Estonia became a digital leader thanks to the courage to make key changes and patient work with people. Mandatory e-identity, collaboration with the private sector, and an emphasis on education created an environment where most things can be handled online. The result is less paper, less corruption, and greater comfort for citizens and entrepreneurs alike.
Services that change everyday life: business and health
Electronic services have fundamentally simplified doing business – from reporting to administration – something felt daily in a country where one in ten people owns a company. What frustrates Estonians most today is having to deal with paper again because of partners abroad. Digitalization does not only mean convenience, but also that systems automate workflows and eliminate unnecessary steps. A practical example is the tax return, which the system pre-fills for the citizen.
In healthcare, everything is handled in a single state portal: e-prescriptions, examination records, and an overview of what the doctor has recorded. Data are entered directly by healthcare professionals, and after leaving the hospital the patient can often view the record immediately. The first version of the health portal was created in 2008, and it took roughly five years for staff to adopt the new procedures. Today no one wants to return to paper, and the advantages showed fully during the pandemic.
Trust, transparency, and lessons for Slovakia
The key to trust is education and complete transparency. In Estonia, the citizen owns their data: in the portal they can see which institution accessed their information and on what basis, since information exchange is logged through X-Road. New services such as e-marriage or e-divorce also digitize all documentation and automate certain steps – for example, after a surname change a new eID card is issued automatically. The ceremony itself, however, remains in person, which people generally prefer.
Mistakes happen and should be discussed openly: in 2017 researchers from the Czech Republic pointed out a potential risk in the eID chip, and the state had to act quickly – the transparent response strengthened trust. For Slovakia, advantages include small size and flexibility, which accelerate change, as well as membership in the EU: compliance with GDPR, NIS-2, and eIDAS increases the credibility of new solutions. Digitalization also curbs corruption – “you can’t bribe a computer” – and changes processes so that bureaucratic intermediaries and paper simply disappear. When systems do the work for people, they have more time for higher-value services.
