ITU Digital Access Index: World's first global ICT ranking
Thursday, December 18, 2003
GENEVA, Switzerland: The International Telecommunication Union has published the first global index to rank Information and Communication Technology (ICT) access. The Digital Access Index (DAI) distinguishes itself from other indices by including a number of new variables, such as education and affordability. It also covers a total of 178 economies, which makes it the first truly global ICT ranking.
Countries are classified into one of four digital access categories: high, upper, medium and low. Those in the upper category include mainly nations from Central and Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, Gulf States and emerging Latin American nations. Many have used ICTs as a development enabler and government policies have helped them reach an impressive level of ICT access. The DAI will be a useful tool for tracking the future advancement of ambitious emerging economies.
The DAI combines eight variables, covering five areas, to provide an overall country score. The areas are availability of infrastructure, affordability of access, educational level, quality of ICT services, and Internet usage. The results of the Index point to potential stumbling blocks in ICT adoption and can help countries identify their relative strengths and weaknesses.
The DAI overcomes other limitations of other ICT indices. Besides its global scope, its carefully chosen variables guarantee transparency. The DAI concentrates on factors that have an immediate impact on determining an individual's potential to access ICTs. It deliberately omits variables subject to qualitative judgment such as the regulatory environment.
Countries are rated on a scale of 0 to 1, with 1 being the highest rating. The composite indicator is based on infrastructure (fixed telephone lines and mobile telephone lines per 100 inhabitants), affordability (internet access price as percent of national income per capita), knowledge (adult literacy, and formal school enrollment), quality (international internet bandwidth per capita, and broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants), and usage (internet users per 100 inhabitants).
The full index shows Sweden at number one, with 0.85, and Niger in last place, with 0.04.
Of the Caribbean region countries ranked, the Bahamas is number one with 0.62 and, not unexpectedly, Haiti is last with 0.15.
Digital Access Index 2002
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UPPER
ACCESS
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MEDIUM
ACCESS
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LOW
ACCESS
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Bahamas
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0.62
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St. Kitts and Nevis
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0.60
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Antigua & Barbuda
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0.57
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Barbados
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0.57
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Dominica
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0.54
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Trinidad & Tobago
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0.53
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Jamaica
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0.53
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St. Lucia
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0.52
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Grenada
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0.51
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Belize
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0.47
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St. Vincent
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0.46
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Guyana
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0.43
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Dominican Rep.
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0.42
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Cuba
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0.38
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Note: On a scale of 0 to 1 where 1 = highest access. DAI values are shown to hundreds of a decimal point. Countries with the same DAI value are ranked by thousands of a decimal point.
Source: ITU
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