The Economist Intelligence Unit has released its 2010 digital economy rankings of the world’s 70 most connected countries. The annual list, which started ten years ago as the “e-readiness rankings”, now focuses on the effort to maximise broadband use for…
The Economist Intelligence Unit has released its 2010 digital economy rankings of the world’s 70 most connected countries. The annual list, which started ten years ago as the “e-readiness rankings”, now focuses on the effort to maximise broadband use for economic and social benefit rather than simply the availability of the internet to citizens.
As such, countries are now ranked by the quality of broadband and mobile access based on fibre and 3G connections, as well as prevalence. Taking quality into account has perhaps surprisingly relegated some European and North American countries towards the bottom of the list, while promoting Asian countries that have invested in next generation networks.
However, according to Denis McCauley, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Director of Global Technology Research, “Strong digital development requires concerted action and progress across many fronts.” This year’s leader, Sweden, and most of the other top-tier countries boast, along with high degrees of connectivity, stable business and legal environments; strong educational and cultural drivers; supportive government ICT policies; and, partly as a result of all the forgoing, active and growing use of digital services by individuals and businesses.
According to the ranking, Nordic countries continue to dominate in most digital economy areas, with Sweden this year beating usual winner Denmark to the top position.
In Asia, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, respectively ranked 12, 13 and 16, climbed the charts thanks to high quality broadband, mobile and high fibre density.
The Economist Intelligence Unit found that broadband is becoming more affordable, with charges in 49 of the 70 countries now accounting for less than 2% of median monthly household income in 2009. Vietnam and Nigeria were notable for their improvement in this category.
Finally, the analysts found that the digital divide between top-ranked and bottom-ranked countries has narrowed from 5.9 points in 2009 to 5.5 points in this year’s study.
This year, the top five countries are Sweden, Denmark, the United States, Finland and the Netherlands, with the UK clocking in at number 14.
To compile the scores, the Economist Intelligence Unit looked at six differently weighted categories: connectivity and technology infrastructure (20%); business environment (15%); social and cultural environment (15%); legal and policy environment (10%); government policy and vision (15%); and consumer and business adoption (25%).
