The downturn and lags in usage take a heavy toll on countries in the
Economist Intelligence Unit's 2009 e-readiness rankings
Key developments:
§ The scores of all but nine of the 70 countries in the study decline
in 2009
§ Denmark-one of the nine-recaptures the top rank in the world
e-readiness table
§ New indicators reveal that information and communications
technology (ICT) use seriously lags its availability in many countries
A sharp deterioration in business environments owing to the economic
crisis has taken a toll on countries' e-readiness-their ability to
harness ICT for social and economic development. The Economist
Intelligence Unit maintains that a stable and transparent business
environment is essential to fostering development and utilisation of
digital technologies and services. Over the past year, however, the
crisis has constricted availability of credit, led governments to
entertain protectionist measures-including in the technology sector-and
dampened foreign investment and support for private enterprise. All 70
countries in the e-readiness rankings have seen their business
environment scores drop in 2009-an important reason why all but nine
countries registered lower overall e-readiness scores this year compared
with 2008.
Scores also fell, however, because this year’s rankings now cover ICT
usage in addition to availability. The availability of technology is not
enough to deliver the full socioeconomic benefit to countries that ICT
can provide. For this, digital technologies must be used, and used
effectively. Tracking actual ICT use is a tricky endeavour, but we have
introduced several new indicators this year which compare countries on
the extent to which their businesses and individuals use online
channels. Since technology usage tends to lag availability, countries’
e-readiness scores have declined further.
These and other factors have also led to changes in the rankings table.
Denmark has reclaimed global e-readiness leadership, a position it
relinquished to the US last year. Other north European countries such as
Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway-having, among other attributes, high
levels of ICT usage-have reaffirmed their places among the top ten
e-readiness countries or, in the case of Norway, advanced into this
tier. Meanwhile, the US and UK, whose business environments have been
hit particularly hard in the past year, have fallen a few rungs.
"The results of this year's research underscore the fact that digital
development does not take place in a vacuum," says Robin Bew, Editorial
Director of the Economist Intelligence Unit. "Tough economic conditions
can constrain the drivers of technology adoption and use. Policymakers
can help maintain the momentum of digital advancement, but above all
they should refrain from introducing protectionist measures, which will
only make matters worse."
Since 2000, the Economist Intelligence Unit has published an annual
e-readiness ranking of the world’s largest economies, using a model
developed in co-operation with the IBM Institute for Business Value. A
country’s “e-readiness” is a measure of its e-business
environment, a collection of factors that indicate how amenable a market
is to Internet-based opportunities. Increasingly, it is also about how
individuals and businesses consume digital goods and services.
Other major findings from this year's study are highlighted below:
§ Emerging markets continue to rack up big advances in connectivity,
or the extent to which people are connected to communications networks.
Progress in the "connectivity and technology infrastructure" category of
indicators is particularly notable in the Middle East and Africa,
Eastern Europe and Latin America. But there remains a large gap between
these and mature markets, which may have a negative knock-on effect on
the usage scores of less well-connected countries.
§ Government ICT strategy in emerging markets is bearing fruit. Most
nations are making progress in implementing e-government programmes; a
few developing countries keep pace and even outperform the e-readiness
leaders in some areas. The governments of Mexico, Jordan and Vietnam,
for example, have made substantial progress in recent years in making
digital channels available to citizens for information provision and
consultation ("e-participation").
§ ICT development may benefit from the recession. Many countries'
economic stimulus packages designed to hasten recovery-notably in
rich-world countries hardest hit by recession, such as the US-have big
ICT infrastructure projects wrapped up in them. But generally, all new
stimulus-driven infrastructure spending, including on railways, power
plants and other projects-incorporates a lot of ICT.
§ Policy concerns exist on the near and longer horizons.
Protectionism risks are growing in the global economy, and measures are
afoot in some countries- China, for example-to increase protection of
local ICT industries. Some stimulus programmes may also have a
protectionist sting in their tail. Policymakers remain concerned that
ICT providers are not doing enough to ensure the privacy and integrity
of customer data. Finally, there is mounting concern about the
environmental impact of digital devices and networks.
Economist Intelligence Unit e-Readiness Rankings 2009
2009 rank (of 70) 2008 rank Country
2009 score (of 10) 2008 score
1 5 Denmark
8.87 8.83
2 3 Sweden
8.67 8.85
3 7 Netherlands
8.64 8.74
4 11 Norway
8.62 8.60
5 1 United States
8.60 8.95
6 4 Australia
8.45 8.83
7 6 Singapore
8.35 8.74
8 2 Hong Kong
8.33 8.91
9 12 Canada
8.33 8.49
10 13 Finland
8.30 8.42
11 16 New Zealand
8.21 8.28
12 9 Switzerland
8.15 8.67
13 8 United Kingdom
8.14 8.68
14 10 Austria
8.02 8.63
15 22 France
7.89 7.92
16 19 Taiwan
7.86 8.05
17 14 Germany
7.85 8.39
18 21 Ireland
7.84 8.03
19 15 South Korea
7.81 8.34
20 20 Belgium
7.71 8.04
21 17 Bermuda
7.71 8.22
22 18 Japan
7.69 8.08
23 23 Malta
7.46 7.78
24 28 Estonia
7.28 7.10
25 26 Spain
7.24 7.46
26 25 Italy
7.09 7.55
27 24 Israel
7.09 7.61
28 27 Portugal
6.86 7.38
29 29 Slovenia
6.63 6.93
30 32 Chile
6.49 6.57
31 31 Czech Republic
6.46 6.68
32 38 Lithuania
6.34 6.03
33 30 Greece
6.33 6.72
34 35 United Arab Emirates
6.12 6.09
35 33 Hungary
6.04 6.30
36 36 Slovakia
6.02 6.06
37 37 Latvia
5.97 6.03
38 34 Malaysia
5.87 6.16
39 41 Poland
5.80 5.83
40 40 Mexico
5.73 5.88
41 39 South Africa
5.68 5.95
42 42 Brazil
5.42 5.65
43 43 Turkey
5.34 5.64
44 49 Jamaica
5.33 5.17
45 44 Argentina
5.25 5.56
46 50 Trinidad & Tobago
5.14 5.07
47 48 Bulgaria
5.11 5.19
48 45 Romania
5.07 5.46
49 47 Thailand
5.00 5.22
50 53 Jordan
4.92 5.03
51 46 Saudi Arabia
4.88 5.23
52 58 Colombia
4.84 4.71
53 51 Peru
4.75 5.07
54 55 Philippines
4.58 4.90
55 52 Venezuela
4.40 5.06
56 56 China
4.33 4.85
57 57 Egypt
4.33 4.81
58 54 India
4.17 4.96
59 59 Russia
3.98 4.42
60 63 Ecuador
3.97 4.17
61 62 Nigeria
3.89 4.25
62 61 Ukraine
3.85 4.31
63 60 Sri Lanka
3.85 4 .35
64 65 Vietnam
3.80 4.03
65 68 Indonesia
3.51 3.59
66 64 Pakistan
3.50 4.10
67 67 Algeria
3.46 3.61
68 70 Iran
3.43 3.18
69 66 Kazakhstan
3.31 3.89
70 69 Azerbaijan
2.97 3.29
Note: A four-decimal score is used to determine each country's rank.
Source: Economist Intelligence Unit, 2009.
E-readiness rankings 2009: The usage imperative is available free of
charge at www.eiu.com/sponsor/ibm/e-readinessrankings2009