SEOUL KOREA - Korea slipped to No. 2 behind Denmark in the ICT Development Index (IDI) released by the International Telecommunication Union.According to the annual report of the ITU headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, Korea’s IDI stood at 8.85 in 2013, 0.01 point lower than that of Denmark.
In the previous year, Korea ranked No. 1 with 8.81, followed by Denmark with 8.78.In the 2013 ranking, Sweden was positioned at No. 3, followed by Iceland and the United Kingdom. The United States ranked No. 14.
Among Asian countries, Hong Kong ranked No. 9, Japan No. 11 and China No. 86. The 2013 ITU survey covered 166 countries, excluding North Korea.
IDI is based on a comprehensive evaluation of a country’s access and use of the Internet and mobile phones and its overall ICT capabilities.
The report said, “At present, more than 3 billion people are connected through online. The global ICT market shows robust growth today.”The report added that 4.3 billion populations are still living without the Internet, 90 percent of which are living in developing countries.
Article provided by The Korea Economic Daily
