GENEVA: Global information technology has a new champion in the shape of Denmark, which has climbed to the top of the World Economic Forum's Networked Readiness Index, knocking the US down from first into seventh place.
The Swiss-headquartered WEF, which has published the index since 2001, said Denmark had an excellent regulatory environment and clear government leadership and vision in application of computer technology. It was previously ranked third.
The US, on the other hand, had fallen from its pre-eminent spot as a result of relative deterioration in the political and regulatory environment.
The survey looked at 122 countries in terms of general business, regulatory and infrastructure environment for ICT (Information and Communication Technology), the readiness of individuals, businesses and governments to use and benefit from it, and their actual use of the latest technology.
Within the Asia-Pacific region league, Hong Kong emerged in 12th position, with Taiwan at 13 and Japan at 14. India was ranked at number 44, and China at 59 - their declines largely due to poor infrastructure.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, Chile was 31st in the global league, followed by Barbados in 40th place. But most countries in the region were improving because of increased government emphasis on ICT.
In Africa almost all countries fell in the ratings, including South Africa, rated 47th compared with 37th last year. Ethiopia, however, is now spending nearly one tenth of its GDP annually on ITC.
The top ten nations in the league are as follows:
Data sourced from reuters.com and weforum.org; additional content by WARC staff
