#wtis2016: Korea tops global ICT Development Index (IDI) for second straight year

This was announced today during the ITU’s flagship annual Measuring the Information Society Report, release in Gaborone Bostswana during the ongoing World Telecommunications Indicators Symposium (WTIS) 2016.

The report shows that the world is getting more and more connected and reveals that there are still huge investment opportunities for the private sector to connect the unconnected.

Dubbed as The Measuring the Information Society Report, the 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 and investors worldwide.

“This year’s results show that nearly all of the 175 countries covered by the index improved their IDI values between 2015 and 2016,” said Brahima Sanou, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, which produces the report each year. “During the same period, stronger improvements have been made on ICT use than access, mainly as a result of strong growth in mobile-broadband uptake globally. This has allowed an increasing number of people, in particular from the developing world, to join the information society and benefit from the many services and applications provided through the Internet.”

The top 10 countries of the IDI 2016 also include two other economies in the Asia-Pacific region, and seven European countries. Three island countries in the Caribbean – St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, and Grenada – featured among the most dynamic countries with strong improvements in their IDI value and rank

The IDI ranking majorly relied on ICTs like mobile uptake, affordability and internet connectivity across the 175 member states

According to the report Europe continues to lead the way in ICT development.It had the highest average IDI value among world regions (7.35). Countries in Europe generally have liberalised communications markets with high levels of ICT access, use and skills.

A number of countries in the Americas significantly improved their performance in the IDI. Several countries in Latin America, notably Bolivia and Mexico, also made noticeable progress in their IDI performance. Similar to other regions, the growth of mobile-broadband subscriptions was particularly influential on these outcomes.

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region is the most homogeneous in terms of ICT development. Nearly all countries in the CIS region have IDI values above the global average. All countries also improved their IDI values as a result of improvements in mobile-cellular and mobile-broadband penetration.

The Asia-Pacific region is, by contrast, the most heterogeneous. The top seven economies in the Asia-Pacific region have IDI values above 7.50 and rank within the highest quartile of IDI 2016. The region also includes a number of countries which significantly increased their IDI value and rank over the year, including Bhutan, Myanmar and Malaysia. However, nine out of 34 countries in the region, including several with large populations, are least connected countries (LCCs).

There is great diversity in ICT development across the Arab States.The five highest performing countries in the Arab States region are oil-rich high-income economies, but the region also includes a number of low-income countries, three of which are LCCs. This illustrates that the digital divide between the LCCs and the more prosperous countries in the region may be growing.

Africa is working on pushing up its IDI performance. The average IDI 2016 value for the Africa region was 2.48 points, just over half the global average of 4.94. The majority of the 39 African countries in IDI 2016 are LDCs. This reflects the lower level of economic development in the region, which inhibits ICT development. The highest growth achieved was in the number of mobile-cellular subscriptions, in contrast to other regions, in which the number of mobile-broadband subscriptions. ITU’s Africa region does not include the North African Arab States.