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President Kersti Kaljulaid: tracing the real-world impact of Estonia’s digital story 

President Kersti Kaljulaid

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Digitalising public services isn’t just a tech upgrade—it’s a rethinking of what governments owe their people. Kersti Kaljulaid, the former president of Estonia (2016-2021), continues to build on the principles that have transformed public services and set a new global benchmark for human-centric governance. 

While many nations wrestle with layers of red tape, Estonia has made bureaucracy almost invisible. How has Estonia achieved this, and what can other countries learn from it? 

Tasks like filing tax returns or registering a business take just a few minutes online—there are no queues, and there is no waiting for approvals in person. This convenience fosters trust in government; people see it as practical and reliable. 

A core part of our success is simplifying processes before digitalising them. Many countries simply digitise archaic or overly complicated procedures, creating a “digitally enhanced bureaucracy” rather than a truly efficient system. In Estonia, we scrutinise the process first and then digitise what remains so that our solutions deliver actual value. 

I always say that everything rests on the unified digital identity. Estonians authenticate themselves with an ID card, Mobile-ID, or Smart-ID, meaning they don’t need multiple logins or passwords for different services. It’s a guaranteed failure if you don’t unify your identity systems. 

Estonia has built a government that’s always ‘on’ and easy to reach. How has this changed the way citizens interact with the state? 

The Estonian state is always available to its people. We don’t have that love-hate relationship you see in countries still tied to paper-based administration. Administrative tasks aren’t confined by opening hours or physical offices, which builds trust and a sense of closeness to the state. Expectations have also risen dramatically; if a service is down even for 30 minutes, that’s seen as unacceptable. In many other countries, people expect to take a day off work to deal with paperwork. 

In Estonia, the public sector effectively competes with the private sector in terms of efficiency. Estonians receive the same level of service from the state as private companies. In many other countries, it’s the opposite, with the state known for poor service.  

When the private sector develops something new—say, banks and telecoms start offering digital contract renewals—people immediately wonder, ‘Why doesn’t the government tell me when my health certificate is about to expire?’ So, the government does it. Our state mirrors private-sector solutions because people’s expectations are so high. That sets us apart from many other nations. 

Estonia has introduced an array of digital services over the years. Which one stands out to you as especially impactful, and why? 

For me, the e-health system really stands out. Our healthcare professionals have a single imaging archive and a unified set of lab results, which is rare in other countries. Often, tests get repeated elsewhere—either due to fragmented data or because it can be a source of revenue. Our integrated approach saves money and speeds up treatment for patients. With just a few clicks, doctors can review a patient’s health history and effectively ‘travel back in time’ to get the complete picture. This isn’t merely about convenience; it can save lives by enabling more accurate, timely diagnoses. 

What is the next logical step in the country’s digital progress? 

We need to integrate artificial intelligence more thoroughly into public services. AI can handle repetitive tasks, freeing human resources for more complex challenges. For instance, the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund uses an AI-based decision-support system called OTT, which predicts the likelihood of unemployed individuals finding work and tailors support accordingly. By using AI, Estonia boosts efficiency and service quality while staying human-centred. 

Estonia’s digital achievements have inspired a few amusing misconceptions. How has the international community responded to Estonia’s success? 

Reactions vary, from deep admiration to some misconceptions. Some assume Estonia’s small population makes digitalisation easier, but that’s a misunderstanding—digital systems scale very well, regardless of population. 

Some believe we’re lax about security, but we prioritise transparency and traceability. Estonians can see who has accessed their sensitive data, ensuring accountability at every step. If I ask someone else, ‘Do you know who has looked at your health data?’ they usually don’t. Estonians can check who accessed their sensitive data. Digital footprints are left everywhere and cannot be erased.  

During my presidency, Donald Trump, who was in his first term as US President, would repeatedly ask, “How are the computers doing?”. At the same time, in South Korea, they imagine tiny robots roaming our streets—amusing anecdotes highlighting the global fascination with Estonia’s e-state and the strength of our e-Estonia brand, even if some assumptions are off the mark.  

Then there are questions about how we’ll integrate AI, even though we arguably have more AI applications in our e-state than anywhere else. This field evolves incredibly quickly and demands both funding and expertise. 

Many countries aspire to emulate Estonia’s digital success, but replicating it is far from simple. Given the worldwide cultural, economic, and political differences, how can nations adapt Estonia’s approach to their circumstances? 

The goal shouldn’t be to fully copy Estonia’s system but to adopt its core principles. A unified digital identity is essential—one model for verifying identity across all public services, ideally extended to the private sector.  

Innovation comes with risk. As digital technologies evolve, what are the biggest challenges to human rights and democracy? 

Social profiling is one of the main threats. As artificial intelligence becomes more powerful, it can be used to categorise or target people in ways that undermine democratic values—particularly when open-source models can be modified without proper oversight. However, AI can also bring significant benefits if developed responsibly. Organisations like OpenAI avoid releasing fully open models to protect democratic and liberal principles. The real challenge is finding the right balance: harnessing AI to improve everyday life while ensuring it does not compromise human rights or enable unethical practices. 

Do you see any pitfalls that could threaten Estonia’s relevance in the future? 

Technological development is accelerating so quickly that we could easily fall behind if we fail to adopt new solutions. Even our e-state could end up working ‘perfectly’ but become terribly old-fashioned—like a well-functioning landline network that nobody uses anymore. We don’t want our e-state to become the landline telephone!” 

Your foundation has launched an international think tank to explore how digital transformation affects society and democracy. How can we measure this impact?  

Measuring societal impact requires careful, data-driven analysis, so I commissioned a comprehensive report. The research shows how Estonia’s rapid technological development over the past 30 years has transformed societal values, trust levels, and expectations. For example, trust between citizens and the state here is unusually high compared to many European countries, mainly because our systems are built on transparency and data security. 

People abroad often think digital infrastructure automatically strengthens democracy, but that’s a misconception. The e-state is just infrastructure—what I like to call “the plumbing.” Even internet voting (i-voting) doesn’t automatically enhance democracy; ticking a box digitally or on paper is still the same democratic process. 

The report also highlighted that trust and familiarity must precede introducing advanced services. That’s why I tell other countries to focus on simpler, widely used digital services—like tax returns or healthcare portals—before something as sensitive as digital voting. People need to trust the digital system first. Starting with digital voting is always a formula for failure. 

What must Estonia do to maintain its position as a global leader in digital governance? 

Learning from others is key. Our policymakers and visitors should look at places like Singapore, Denmark, or even Saudi Arabia to see how they run systems, secure them, and handle privacy. Each society tailors its digital approach to its own needs, and these variations are fascinating. There’s no direct competition among “top digital nations.” Our real competition lies with private-sector user experiences. 

Estonia’s big advantage is that when international specialists come to live or work here, they find an easy, bureaucracy-free environment. Whether they work for Bolt or Wise, that efficiency can make them stay longer. It’s vital for retaining talent and driving innovation. 

AI also has massive potential in areas like medical diagnostics. Imagine cancer analysis: an MRI result could take a week at a local hospital, but a properly trained AI can deliver results more swiftly. That’s where Estonia’s next breakthroughs lie: harnessing AI to boost both the speed and quality of public services. 

President Kersti Kaljulaid’s tenure helped set the stage, and her ongoing work through the Kersti Kaljulaid Foundation continues to shape a global conversation on modern governance. The foundation’s initiatives offer hope that change and the betterment of societies can be more than a top-down venture, as it tackles promoting democracy, empowering the vulnerable, and navigating the societal impact of digitalisation.  

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