ITU again ranks Azerbaijan among most dynamic countries in ICT Development

Baku, November 25, AzerTAc During the year, Azerbaijan rose by 1 position - from 65th place in 2012 to 64th in 2013 and took the 64th place in the world, according to the new edition of the world ranking ICT Development Index (IDI) for 2013. The ranking has been published in Measuring the Information Society Report, issued by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). ITU’s ICT Development Index (IDI) ranks 166 countries according to their level of ICT access, use and skills. As before, Azerbaijan is among 10 most rapidly developing countries. At the end of 2013, Denmark ranked Number One, followed by the Republic of Korea. The IDI top 30-ranking include countries from Europe and high-income nations from other regions including Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Japan, Macao (China), New Zealand, Singapore and the United States. In terms of regional comparisons, Europe’s average IDI value of 7.14 remains well ahead of the next best-performing region, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS - 5.33), followed by the Americas (4.86), Asia & the Pacific (4.57), the Arab States (4.55), and Africa at 2.31. The CIS and the Arab States showed the highest improvement in regional IDI averages over the past 12 months. Almost all countries surveyed improved their IDI ranking this year. The highest result in the CIS region for IDI was recorded in Belarus (6.89) and Russia (6.70). In all CIS countries the index is below from the average for developed countries - 7.20. The most noticeable improvement was recorded in Belarus - the country came from 43rd place in 2012 to 38th in 2013 and Georgia (not included in the CIS, but included in the ranking of the Commonwealth countries) - from 83rd to 72nd, all other CIS countries deteriorated by one notch (except for Kazakhstan, whose rating has not changed, and the Ukraine, which has lost two pillars). More growth was recorded in number of households with Internet access in Russia (67% and 70% respectively).This figure exceeds 50% in Azerbaijan, Belarus and Kazakhstan, while it is less than 10% in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Belarus takes the lead for fixed broadband coverage in the region (30%). Relatively broad coverage was recorded in Azerbaijan and Russia (17%). ITU’s IDI, first published by the ITU in 2009, is widely recognized by government, UN agencies and industry as the most accurate and impartial measure of overall national ICT development. It combines 11 indicators into a single measure that can be used as a benchmarking tool globally, regionally, and at national level, as well as helping track progress in ICT development over time. It measures ICT access, use and skills, and includes such indicators as mobile cellular subscriptions, households with a computer, Internet users, fixed and mobile broadband Internet subscriptions, and basic literacy rates.