The report also notes that the 167 countries included in the ICT Development Index (IDI) improved their IDI values between 2010 and 2015, meaning that levels of access to information and communication technologies (ICTs), the use of these technologies, and knowledge in the field continue to improve worldwide.
The Measuring the Information Society Report is generally considered to be the most reliable and impartial source of data analysis on the state of global ICT development, and is commonly used by governments, international organizations, development banks and private sector analysts worldwide.
"ICTs will be essential in achieving each and every one of the 17 recently agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," said Houlin Zhao, ITU Secretary-General, "and this Report plays an important role in the SDG process. Without measurements and information, we cannot track progress. For this reason, the ITU gathers data and publishes this important Report every year."
“The ITU’s work in collecting and publishing statistics allows us to closely monitor the real progress made in ICT development worldwide,” said Brahima Sanou, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, which produces the annual report. “While progress is encouraging in many areas, much remains to be done, especially in the poorest and most isolated regions of the world, where ICTs could undoubtedly be crucial and contribute to eradicating extreme poverty globally.”
By the end of this year, 46% of households will have access to the Internet, compared to 44% last year and just 30% five years ago, in 2010. In developed countries, 81.3% of households now have access to the Internet, compared to 34.1% of households in developing countries and just 6.7% in the 48 countries on the United Nations' list of least developed countries (LDCs).
The most recent data shows that Internet usage has slowed, registering annual growth of 6.9% compared to 7.4% in 2014. However, the number of Internet users in developing countries has almost doubled in the last five years (2010-2015), and two-thirds of the world's connected people currently live in those countries.
The fastest growth continues to be seen in mobile broadband, whose number of subscriptions worldwide quadrupled in five years, rising from 800 million in 2010 to an estimated 3.5 billion in 2015. The number of fixed broadband subscriptions has increased much more slowly, currently estimated at 800 million.
Mobile network coverage: reaching the last 500 million people
More than 95% of the world's population now has access to mobile cellular services, which means that, according to estimates, there are still some 350 million people worldwide living in areas without mobile network coverage—a figure that has decreased from 450 million a year ago. While 89% of the world's urban population now has 3G network coverage, only 29% of the world's 3.4 billion people living in rural areas benefit from such coverage.
Forecasts until 2020
In 2014, ITU Members adopted the Connect 2020 Agenda, which sets out a series of goals and targets to increase the growth and integration of ICTs, their sustainability, and to contribute to innovation and partnerships. The Measuring the Information Society Report assesses, for the first time, the current status of these goals and targets worldwide and provides estimates for their achievement by 2020.
According to the report, the proportion of households with internet access is projected to reach 56% in 2020, exceeding the 55% target set by the Connect 2020 Agenda for the entire world. While much remains to be done to increase the number of internet users, the report forecasts that only 53% of the global population will be online in 2020, well below the 60% target also set by the Connect 2020 Agenda.
It will also be necessary to adopt a greater number of measures to ensure that growth and integration goals are not missed in developing countries, and particularly in LDCs. The Connect 2020 Agenda aims to guarantee that at least 50% of households in developing countries and 15% of households in LDCs have access by 2020, but the ITU estimates that, by that date, only 45% of households in developing countries and 11% of households in LDCs will have access.
Greater affordability, although not universal affordability
The report also indicates that the price of mobile cellular services continues to decline worldwide. In LDCs, the price basket for these services has continued to fall, reaching 14% of gross national income (GNI) per capita at the end of 2014, compared to 29% in 2008.
The most significant decrease in the last year has been in the price of mobile broadband, thanks to which the affordability of the service worldwide is, on average, between 20 and 30%.
At the beginning of 2015, 111 countries (out of the 160 with available data), including all developed countries and 67 developing countries, had met the Broadband Commission for Digital Development's target: the cost of broadband services should not exceed 5% of average monthly income. However, in 22 developing countries, broadband prices still exceed 20% of GNI per capita.
The report also notes that, despite significant progress in mobile broadband affordability, fixed broadband prices increased between 2013 and 2014, following several years of steady decline. In LDCs, in particular, fixed broadband services remain unaffordable, and most countries at the lower end of the fixed broadband price basket are least developed countries. The average fixed broadband price basket in 2014 represented 98% of GNI per capita in LDCs, up from 70% a year earlier, indicating a sharp increase that will not encourage the already very low adoption of fixed broadband in the world's poorest countries.
Ranking of countries according to the ICT Development Index: the disparity is increasing
In 2015, the Republic of Korea ranked first in the ITU's ICT Development Index (IDI)*, a composite measure that ranks 167 countries based on their level of access to ICTs, their use of these technologies, and their ICT skills. Denmark and Iceland followed closely behind, ranking second and third, respectively.
The top 30 in the IDI include countries from Europe and high-income countries from other regions, such as Australia, Bahrain, Barbados, Canada, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Macau (China), New Zealand, Singapore, and the United States. This year, almost all the countries studied have improved their IDI ranking.
Over the past five years, a greater disparity in IDI values has been observed between countries ranked in the middle and lower parts of the distribution. LDCs have seen slower growth in the IDI compared to other developing countries, and they lag behind, particularly in the "utilization" sub-index, which could affect their ability to reap the development benefits of ICTs.
Furthermore, the Report identifies a group of "more dynamic countries" that have registered above-average improvements in their IDI rankings over the past five years. These include (in order of ranking, countries that have achieved the most significant changes) Costa Rica, Bahrain, Lebanon, Ghana, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Suriname, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, and Oman.
IDI – Comparison between Regions
Average IDI values vary considerably from region to region.
In Africa** only one country, Mauritius, has an IDI value above the world average of 5.03 points, while only three countries (Seychelles, South African Republic and Cape Verde) exceed the average value of developing countries, that is, 4.12 points.
In total, 29 of the 37 African countries are in the bottom quarter of the 2015 IDI, including the 11 countries with the lowest rankings, indicating the importance of reducing the digital divide between Africa and other regions.
Between 2010 and 2015, the average increase in IDI values in Africa was 0.65 points, lower than in other regions in nominal terms, but starting from a lower base and therefore higher proportionally to the 2010 baseline. The most notable improvements were achieved in Ghana, which increased its IDI value by 1.92 points and climbed 21 places in the global rankings. Other substantial improvements in the rankings were achieved by Lesotho, Cape Verde, and Mali.
In the Americas, the United States, Canada, and Barbados occupy the top positions in the IDI rankings, achieving scores above 7.50 points and placing among the top 30 countries worldwide. These three countries significantly outperform the rest of the region, with their IDI scores a full point higher than the next highest-ranked country, Uruguay. Some 29 countries in the region are in the top half of the global rankings.
The Americas region saw some of the most significant shifts in the IDI's global rankings between 2010 and 2015. Costa Rica made the most dynamic progress worldwide, climbing 23 places, while Suriname, Brazil, Barbados, and Colombia also achieved substantial gains. However, several countries, particularly in Central America and the Caribbean, fell notably in the rankings, including Belize, Cuba, Grenada, Jamaica, and St. Kitts and Nevis.
In the Arab States region, the five leading countries in ICT development (Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait), all members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), are high-income countries and major oil producers. They all achieve IDI scores above 6.50 and rank among the top fifty countries globally. Three of them (Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia) are among the ten countries that have made the most dynamic progress in their rankings and IDI scores since 2010, as are two other countries in the region (Lebanon and Oman).
However, the disparity between the top-ranked countries and those at the bottom continues to widen. While GCC countries improved their IDI scores by 1.78 points between 2010 and 2015, the average progress of non-GCC countries was 0.89 points, the global average. The GCC countries' excellent ranking highlights the relationship between the IDI and national income levels.
Asia-Pacific is the region with the greatest diversity in ICT development, reflecting significant disparities in economic development. Six countries in the region, notably South Korea, Hong Kong (China), and Japan, occupy the top twenty positions in the global IDI rankings. However, the region also includes ten of the least connected countries in the Index, such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
The countries of the region, and particularly middle-income countries, nevertheless achieved considerable improvements in their IDI scores between 2010 and 2015. The most dynamic improvements in the region's IDI scores are attributed to Thailand, Mongolia, and Bhutan, which rose 18, 13, and 9 places, respectively, in the global rankings during that period. The average growth in IDI scores for the region is 0.85 points, just below the global average.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) exhibits the least variation of all regions between the countries at the top and bottom of the rankings, an indication of the region's relative economic homogeneity. All countries in the region are ranked in the upper half of the overall distribution.
The average increase of 1.43 points in the region's IDI scores since 2010 is considerably higher than the global average of 0.89 points. Belarus, the highest-ranked country in the region, has improved by 1.88 points and 14 places, while Kyrgyzstan, the lowest-ranked country in the region, has also made significant progress, rising by 1.60 points and 15 places.
In Europe, all countries except Albania exceed the global average IDI score of 5.03 and are in the top half of the rankings, indicating the region's high levels of economic development. The region's average IDI score increased between 2010 and 2015, rising from 6.48 to 7.35, an increase of 0.87 points. This is a very positive development, given that all but one country in the region were already in the top half in 2010. Furthermore, the European region shows a relatively narrow gap between its minimum and maximum IDI scores, reflecting relative homogeneity in the ICT sector and the economy as a whole.
The top positions in the regional ranking are mostly occupied by countries in Northern and Western Europe, particularly the Nordic countries; the lowest rankings are concentrated around the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe. Denmark is the region's top performer, with an IDI score of 8.88, just ahead of Iceland at 8.86. The most significant improvement in the IDI ranking between 2010 and 2015 was achieved by the United Kingdom, which moved from tenth to fourth place globally.
