Largest accessibility survey in Europe

In October 2016, it was decided to require all government organisations in Europe under the EU Web Accessibility Directive to make websites and apps digitally accessible. Every country in the EU must monitor its progress on this annually. The results this survey must be published every three years. 23 December 2021 was the deadline for the first period.

We are proud to have participated in the Monitor digital accessibility of the Netherlands. In this monitor, we were responsible for a number of manual checks of websites.

Far from all European government websites accessible yet

All 27 EU members conducted a survey. The reports from the different countries give us a picture of the progress of digital accessibility in Europe. Because different ways of surveying were used, the results are difficult to compare, though. The UK also published the results, despite no longer being part of the European Union.

The European Union's website has published an overview of all studies. These have also been automatically translated into English. Results from Cyprus, France, Ireland and Portugal are not available at this time.

Out of more than 800 in-depth surveys, only four websites were fully accessible (conforming to EN 301 549 and WCAG 2.1 level A + AA). Mobile applications were slightly better: 8 out of 286 apps tested were fully accessible.

This does not immediately mean that digital accessibility is going badly in Europe. We think it is a great goal for all websites to be fully accessible, but we also know that the process towards it is just as important. We are therefore happy to help organisations and companies integrate digital accessibility within current processes.

The importance of the accessibility statement

The reports show that 13 countries indicate how many government websites have also published an accessibility statement. The differences are wide, ranging from 90% to just 12% of all government websites.

The following countries have the most accessibility statements:

  1. Denmark (96%)

  2. United Kingdom (90%)

  3. Netherlands (78%)

  4. Slovakia (54%)

  5. Austria (54%)

  6. .

The accessibility statement in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is unique in the list: in our country, the accessibility statement must refer to a research report and includes plans for improvement. The status of accessibility is set from level A to E, with A fully complying with European legislation.

Next reporting in December 2024

The next reporting period ends at the end of December 2024. Hopefully, the reports published last year will help to use a more equivalent survey methodology across Europe. This will make it possible to compare results, which is hardly possible now.

We too have started collecting statistics from our own surveys starting this year. We also hope to publish these figures annually from 2023 to show the results of our inspections and consultancy.