Greece is introducing a new performance metric aimed at measuring progress in cutting red tape across the public sector, as the government seeks to quantify the effectiveness of its administrative reform and digitalization efforts.
The Ministry of Digital Governance has established a Bureaucracy Reduction Index, a composite indicator that will score the country's public administration on a scale from 0 to 100. The framework, approved by Deputy Minister Vivi Charalampogianni and published in the Government Gazette, is designed to provide an annual assessment of how effectively government agencies are reducing administrative burdens and modernizing public services.
A higher score will indicate lower levels of bureaucracy and greater administrative efficiency.
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The index expands the mandate of Greece's Bureaucracy Observatory, a government monitoring body created to track progress in simplifying public administration. It will combine a range of performance indicators, including the digital availability of public services, the ease of administrative procedures, citizen satisfaction, the administrative burden associated with key government services, and the degree to which procedures have been simplified under Greece's National Registry of Administrative Procedures.
According to the ministry, the methodology has been designed to allow international comparisons while reflecting the specific characteristics of Greece's public administration.
The index is intended to capture tangible improvements in citizens' day-to-day interactions with the state. A process such as obtaining a permit or official certificate, for example, would receive a higher score if it requires fewer supporting documents, can be completed more quickly, and is handled entirely online. Conversely, procedures that still require multiple visits to government offices, extensive paperwork, and lengthy processing times would weigh negatively on the overall score.
The Bureaucracy Reduction Index will be calculated annually by the executive arm of the Bureaucracy Observatory under the supervision of its coordinating body. Both the annual score and the underlying methodology will be published on the Observatory's online platform, together with supporting documentation to ensure transparency.
The methodology will be reviewed every three years to reflect international best practices and evolving domestic policy priorities.
The regulation also strengthens the role of the Bureaucracy Observatory by requiring it to publish standardized methodologies for measuring the simplification of administrative procedures and calculating administrative burdens. Those methodologies will become mandatory across all public-sector bodies when evaluating the regulatory and internal administrative costs associated with government processes.
The initiative forms part of Greece's broader effort to modernize the public sector, improve the delivery of public services, and make administrative performance measurable through objective, publicly available indicators.
