The Republic of Korea (South Korea), Denmark and Iceland leads ITU ICT Development Index (IDI) a composite measurement that ranks 167 countries according to their level of ICT access, use and skills.
The IDI top 30 ranking includes countries from Europe and high-income nations from other regions including Australia, Bahrain, Barbados, Canada, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Macao (China), New Zealand, Singapore and the United States.
The report identifies a group of ‘most dynamic countries’, which have recorded above-average improvements in their IDI rank over the past five years. These include: Costa Rica, Bahrain, Lebanon, Ghana, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Suriname, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Oman.
ITU’s flagship annual Measuring the Information Society Report, released today, reveals that 3.2 billion people are now online, representing 43.4 percent of the global population, while mobile cellular subscriptions have reached almost 7.1 billion worldwide, with over 95 percent of the global population now covered by a mobile-cellular signal.
ITU secretary general Houlin Zhao said, “This report plays an important role in the SDG process. Without measurement and reporting, we cannot track the progress being made, and this is why ITU gathers data and publishes this important report each year.”
Brahima Sanou, director, Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU said, “Progress is encouraging in many areas but more needs to be done – especially in the world’s poorest and remotest regions, where ICTs can arguably make the biggest difference, and help bring people everywhere out of extreme poverty.”
By the end of this year, 46 percent of households globally will have Internet access at home, up from 44 percent last year. In the developed world, 81.3 percent of households now have home Internet access, compared to 34.1 percent in the developing world, and just 6.7 percent in the 48 UN-designated Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
Fastest growth continues to be seen in mobile broadband, with the number of mobile broadband subscriptions worldwide having grown more than four-fold in five years, from 0.8 billion in 2010 to an estimated 3.5 billion in 2015. The number of fixed-broadband subscriptions has risen much more slowly, to an estimated 0.8 billion today.
Over 95 percent of the global population is now covered by mobile cellular services, meaning that there are still an estimated 350 million people worldwide who live in places which are still out of reach of a mobile network.
89 percent of the world’s urban population is now covered by a 3G network, only 29 percent of the world’s 3.4 billion people living in rural areas benefit from 3G coverage.
Regional Comparisons
In Africa only one country, Mauritius, has an IDI value above the global average of 5.03, while three others (Seychelles, South Africa and Cape Verde) exceed the average value for developing countries of 4.12.
Altogether, 29 out of 37 African countries rank in the bottom quarter of the 2015 IDI, including the 11 countries with the lowest rankings of all, illustrating the importance of addressing the digital divide between Africa and other regions.
In the Americas, the United States, Canada and Barbados lead the IDI rankings, with IDI values above 7.50, and global rankings in the top thirty economies. These three countries significantly outperform all other countries in the region, with IDI levels approaching one whole point above the next highest regional performer, Uruguay. Some 29 of the region’s countries fall within the top half of the global rankings.
In the Arab States region, the top five countries in terms of ICT development – Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait – are oil-rich high-income economies that are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). These countries all have IDI values over 6.50 and are among the top fifty countries in the global rankings.
Asia-Pacific is the most diverse region in terms of ICT development, reflecting stark differences in levels of economic development. Six economies in the region – including the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong (China) and Japan – have IDI rankings in the top twenty of the global distribution. However, the region also includes ten of the Index’s least connected countries, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region shows the least variation of any region between its highest and lowest performing countries, reflecting the region’s relative economic homogeneity. All countries in the region have rankings in the top half of the overall distribution.
In Europe, all countries, with the exception of Albania, exceed the global average IDI value of 5.03, and fall within the top half of countries in the IDI ranking, reflecting the region’s high levels of economic development.
Positions at the top of the regional rankings are mostly held by countries in northern and western Europe, in particular by Nordic countries; while lower rankings are concentrated around the Mediterranean and in eastern Europe.
2020 Predictions
The report notes that the proportion of households projected to have Internet access in 2020 will reach 56 percent, exceeding the Connect 2020 target of 55 percent worldwide. More needs to be done to increase the number of Internet users, however – the report predicts that only 53 percent of the global population will be online in 2020, significantly below the Connect 2020 target of 60 percent.
More action will also be needed to ensure that targets for growth and inclusiveness are not missed in developing countries, and in particular in LDCs. The Connect 2020 Agenda aims to ensure that at least 50 percent of households in developing countries and 15 percent of households in LDCs have access by 2020, but ITU estimates that only 45 percent of households in developing countries and 11 percent of LDC households will have Internet access by that date.
The Measuring the Information Society Report is widely recognized as the repository of the world’s most reliable and impartial global data and analysis on the state of global ICT development, and is extensively relied upon by governments, international organizations, development banks and private sector analysts worldwide.
Source: https://www.teleanalysis.com/south-korea-denmark-iceland-leads-itu-ict-development-index/