U.S. Slips Two Spots in Global Technology Report

Sweden replaced Denmark as the world's most networked economy and the U.S. fell two spots to fifth place in the Global Information Technology Report 2009-10 rankings. The report, released last week by the World Economic Forum, finds that the U.S. boasts a very conducive information and communication technologies (ICT) environment because of intensive competition, excellent infrastructure and top-notch education. Aspects of the U.S. performance which show margins for improvement include high tax rates, excessive red tape, and a poor general regulatory framework.

The report also finds that while the U.S. ranks 2nd in ICT usage with businesses and the government fully leveraging ICT, individual usage is less satisfactory. This is mainly a result of comparatively low mobile subscription penetration rates, according to the report. The top 10 are Sweden (1), Singapore (2), Denmark (3), Switzerland (4), United States (5), Finland (6), Canada (7), Hong Kong SAR (8), Netherlands (9), and Norway (10).

To examine how prepared countries are to use ICT effectively, the report uses an index that measures data across three dimensions: the general business, regulatory and infrastructure environment for ICT; the readiness of individuals, business and governments to use and benefit from ICT; and, the actual usage of the latest information and communication technologies available.

The ninth annual report tracks ICT advances across the globe to measure network readiness for benchmarking, to showcase best practices, and to provide analysis for the ICT industry. Profiles for 133 economies are detailed in the report, which is available at: http://www.weforum.org/pdf/GITR10/GITR%202009-2010_Full%20Report%20final.pdf