The first nationwide survey on official government websites concluded recently, unveiling valuable data.

The survey revealed that there are 85,890 official websites. Of these, 3,216 websites were of departments of the State Council while local governments had 82,674 websites.

Huang Huang, associate professor of the School of Government of Peking University, noted that it was both urgent and necessary to have a comprehensive survey as problems arose over the past decade following a rapid growth in official government websites, and the survey will offer options to provide better services to the public.

In March, the State Council ordered the survey to get a clear view of availability, update speeds, user experience, and service quality of the government websites.

Official government websites offer a window to the public to get information and services. This has taken on greater importance as the “Internet Plus” has become one of the top priorities to better serve the public and boost the economy.

Local governments, like Beijing municipality, introduced a plan to link the quality of official websites with performance assessments of local governments and departments to encourage them to build more user-friendly websites.

According to Huang, the true significance of the survey is that it shows the function of a modern government website and what role it should play in the future.