Ranking of countries by the level of development of information and communication technologies (ICT) * Cities and countries

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According to statistics, by the end of 2018, more than half (51.2%) of the entire population of the Earth regularly hung on the World Wide Web. And in developed countries, four out of five people are regularly online.

But in which country is the best quality of the Internet and inextricably linked mobile communications? The answer to this question can be found in the Information and Communication Technology Development Index, which is published by the International Telecommunication Union. The latest study was released in 2017. The ICT Development Index ranks the countries of the world in a list according to 11 criteria, which include both the ability to access IT technologies and the breadth of their use and the ability of the population to use them.

ICT Development Index 2017

№	Country	ICT Index
1	Iceland	8.98
2	South Korea	8.85
3	Switzerland	8.74
4	Denmark	8.71
5	Great Britain	8.65
6	Hong Kong	8.61
7	Netherlands	8.49
8	Norway	8.47
9	Luxembourg	8.47
10	Japan	8.43
11	Sweden	8.41
12	Germany	8.39
13	New Zealand	8.33
14	Australia	8.24
15	France	8.24
16	United States of America	8.18
17	Estonia	8.14
18	Singapore	8.05
19	Monaco	8.05
20	Ireland	8.02
21	Austria	8.02
22	Finland	7.88
23	Israel	7.88
24	Malta	7.86
25	Belgium	7.81
26	Macau	7.80
27	Spain	7.79
28	Cyprus	7.77
29	Canada	7.77
30	Andorra	7.71
31	Bahrain	7.60
32	Belarus	7.55
33	Slovenia	7.38
34	Barbados	7.31
35	Latvia	7.26
36	Croatia	7.24
37	Saint Kitts and Nevis	7.24
38	Greece	7.23
39	Qatar	7.21
40	United Arab Emirates	7.21
41	Lithuania	7.19
42	Uruguay	7.16
43	Czech Republic	7.16
44	Portugal	7.13
45	Russia	7.07
46	Slovakia	7.06
47	Italy	7.04
48	Hungary	6.93
49	Poland	6.89
50	Bulgaria	6.86
51	Argentina	6.79
52	Kazakhstan	6.79
53	Brunei	6.75
54	Saudi Arabia	6.67
55	Serbia	6.61
56	Chile	6.57
57	Bahamas	6.51
58	Romania	6.48
59	Moldova	6.45
60	Costa Rica	6.44
61	Montenegro	6.44
62	Oman	6.43
63	Malaysia	6.38
64	Lebanon	6.30
65	Azerbaijan	6.20
66	Brazil	6.12
67	Turkey	6.08
68	Trinidad and Tobago	6.04
69	Macedonia	6.01
70	Jordan	6.00
71	Kuwait	5.98
72	Mauritius	5.88
73	Grenada	5.80
74	Georgia	5.79
75	Armenia	5.76
76	Antigua and Barbuda	5.71
77	Dominica	5.69
78	Thailand	5.67
79	Ukraine	5.62
80	China	5.60
81	Iran	5.58
82	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	5.54
83	Bosnia and Herzegovina	5.39
84	Colombia	5.36
85	Maldives	5.25
86	Venezuela	5.17
87	Mexico	5.16
88	Suriname	5.15
89	Albania	5.14
90	Seychelles	5.03
91	Mongolia	4.96
92	South Africa	4.96
93	Cape Verde	4.92
94	Panama	4.91
95	Uzbekistan	4.90
96	Peru	4.85
97	Ecuador	4.84
98	Jamaica	4.84
99	Tunisia	4.82
100	Morocco	4.77
101	Philippines	4.67
102	Algeria	4.67
103	Egypt	4.63
104	Saint lucia	4.63
105	Botswana	4.59
106	Dominican Republic	4.51
107	Fiji	4.49
108	Vietnam	4.43
109	Kyrgyzstan	4.37
110	Tonga	4.34
111	Indonesia	4.33
112	Bolivia	4.31
113	Paraguay	4.18
114	Gabon	4.11
115	Libya	4.11
116	Ghana	4.05
117	Sri Lanka	3.91
118	Namibia	3.89
119	Salvador	3.82
120	Belize	3.71
121	Butane	3.69
122	Timor Leste	3.57
123	Palestine	3.55
124	Guyana	3.44
125	Guatemala	3.35
126	Syria	3.34
127	Samoa	3.30
128	Cambodia	3.28
129	Honduras	3.28
130	Nicaragua	3.27
131	Cote d’Ivoire	3.14
132	Sao Tome and Principe	3.09
133	Lesotho	3.04
134	India	3.03
135	Myanmar	3.00
136	Zimbabwe	2.92
137	Cuba	2.91
138	Kenya	2.91
139	Laos	2.91
140	Nepal	2.88
141	Vanuatu	2.81
142	Senegal	2.66
143	Nigeria	2.60
144	Gambia	2.59
145	Sudan	2.55
146	Zambia	2.54
147	Bangladesh	2.53
148	Pakistan	2.42
149	Cameroon	2.38
150	Mozambique	2.32
151	Mauritania	2.26
152	Uganda	2.19
153	Rwanda	2.18
154	Kiribati	2.17
155	Mali	2.16
156	Togo	2.15
157	Solomon islands	2.11
158	Djibouti	1.98
159	Afghanistan	1.95
160	Angola	1.94
161	Benin	1.94
162	Burkina Faso	1.90
163	Equatorial Guinea	1.86
164	Comoros	1.82
165	Tanzania	1.81
166	Guinea	1.78
167	Malawi	1.74
168	Haiti	1.72
169	Madagascar	1.68
170	Ethiopia	1.65
171	Democratic Republic of the Congo	1.55
172	Burundi	1.48
173	Guinea bissau	1.48
174	Chad	1.27
175	Central African Republic	1.04
176	Eritrea	0.96

10. Japan

One of the safest countries in the world opens a list of leading countries in terms of the development of information technology in 2019. By the number of Internet cables per capita, Japan is in third place in the world. And the experts of the Telecommunication Union note that the ability of the average Japanese to maneuver along the World Wide Web exceeds the skill of an ordinary resident of Europe.

Also, the Japanese are generally more knowledgeable in programming. They are inferior in this indicator only to residents of the UAE and Luxembourg. And, despite the fact that in recent decades, old-fashioned telephone lines are losing importance, Japan remains among the three leaders in revenue from the use of landline phones. Only China and the USA overtake it.

9. Luxembourg

Eight years ago, this tiny European country with an area of just over 2.5 thousand km² and with a population of 600 thousand people set a goal: to become one of the world leaders in terms of Internet access speed.

Well, the Luxembourgers have reached their goal - the Internet in the country is not only public (last year 95% of the population had access to it), but also very fast. Almost half of Internet users can download information at a speed of at least 1 Gb / s.

However, the country's government believes that Luxembourg still has room to grow, and intends to provide all 100% of the population at this rate by 2020.

8. Norway

Norway's largest telecommunications provider, Telenor, is 30% state owned. Either because of this fact, or in spite of it, but the Norwegians can boast of the fastest mobile Internet in the whole world. The average download speed in Norway is 52.6 Mb / s, and according to this indicator, the Scandinavians overtake even the recognized capital of IT technology - Singapore.

Telenor has invested millions of crowns in the development of 4G technology, and the money invested is starting to pay off. The country is growing not only the speed of mobile Internet, but also the number of subscribers. Moreover, Norway is a provider of mobile Internet services to neighboring Denmark.

7. The Netherlands

Along with Luxembourg and Belgium, the Netherlands is among the top three leaders in terms of cable and mobile Internet speeds, as well as in terms of its accessibility for all segments of the population.

As of 2018, more than 76% of the total population of the country could use the Internet at a speed of 30 Mb / s and higher. In addition, almost all hotels, restaurants, bars, places frequented by tourists and government offices in the Netherlands are equipped with free wireless Internet access. True, sometimes you will need to ask the staff for the code.

6. Hong Kong

The small size of Hong Kong (its area is only 1.1 thousand km²) and the high population density (7.5 million people) have their advantages. The smaller the country, the easier it is to reach the entire population with the Internet, not just any, but high-tech and high-speed.

Among Asian countries, Hong Kong boasts one of the highest average peak broadband Internet speeds. An important role is played by the status of Hong Kong as an international financial and trade center, as well as its proximity to the dynamically developing Chinese market.

However, the higher the development of mobile communications, the worse old-fashioned telephone lines are. Therefore, the population of Hong Kong is massively switching to wireless communications.

5. UK

Great Britain ranks fifth in the ranking of leading countries in terms of IT development. And it is not surprising, given that it was in this country that one of the oldest Internet networks in the world appeared, which has been successfully functioning for more than a quarter of a century.

However, if residents of English cities enjoy high-speed Internet, both mobile and cable, then residents of rural areas of the country have to be content with less. Even in our time, the speed of the Internet outside the city in the daytime rarely exceeds 256 Kbps. And only at night it rises to 1 Mb / s or more. For this reason, in the ratings for Internet speed, Britain is usually in 30-40 places.

4. Denmark

This country is one of the world leaders in the number of households providing Internet (97% in 2017). However, for some reason, last year this value decreased by 4%, which, however, did not prevent the country from taking an honorable fourth place in the level of development of IT technologies.

The age of the Internet-active population varies from 25 to 37 years, and these people go online almost every day.

A curious fact: tourists should take note that some Internet providers work only with Danes. If you do not have a Danish social number, then you will not get the Internet. Fortunately, this is the exception rather than the rule in the market. In addition, Denmark is widely provided with free wi-fi; it is available in almost every library, restaurant or hotel.

And recently, the Danish government issued a decree requiring municipal centers to provide tourists with free internet in the city center.

3. Switzerland

For one of the most prosperous countries in the world, 4G is already outdated technology. At the beginning of this year, three major mobile operators paid more than 380 million Swiss francs for access to megahertz frequencies. The purpose of the acquisition is the deployment of communications in 5G. And now work is underway to create a 6G network!

However, Swiss scientists are sounding the alarm: they believe that before the sale, a number of studies should be carried out to make sure that high frequencies are completely safe for the population and the environment. The point is not even the impact of the frequencies themselves, but the construction of many wireless antennas throughout the country. After all, 5G technology is capable of transmitting information only over short distances - according to some reports, only up to 10-12 m

2. South Korea

Koreans are one of the most internet-advanced and smartphone-reached nations in the world. According to statistics, 9 out of 10 Koreans over childhood regularly use the Internet and have at least one smartphone. And the total number of mobile phone owners is 94% of the total population of the country.

The Internet in Korea is rightfully considered one of the fastest in the world, its average speed is 2.5 Gb / s. Moreover, one of the country's leading telecommunications companies is going to squeeze the pedal to the floor, providing its fellow citizens with a speed of up to 10 Gb / s. And in order for you to fully appreciate the greatness of this figure, we will inform you that in the USA in 2018, the average speed was only 18.7 Mb / s.

At the same time, Koreans are generally neutral about social networks. In at least one social network, only 69% of the population has an account. For comparison, in the Netherlands and Australia upload photos and like 93% of the inhabitants.

1. Iceland

Of course, Iceland received the title of one of the happiest countries in the world not only thanks to the excellent Internet. But this factor also played an important role.

A small island on the very edge of Europe boasts a huge amount of fiber optic cables per capita. Compared to the previous year, access to cable Internet grew by 33.8%, and as a result, almost 78% of Icelandic households have access to the Network. And almost every Icelander has access to three networks using 4G technology, and the average download speed is 66 Mb / s.

Icelanders have an advanced computer skills, including programming skills - the highest in Europe. 59% of Icelanders are subscribed to Netflix, 92% are on Facebook, and another 62% regularly post photos on Snapchat.

Russia is in the list of the best countries in terms of IT development at 45th place, behind Latvia (35th line) and Belarus (32th line). And the most developed country in the field of IT in the former USSR is Estonia. It is located in 17th place, behind the United States (16th position) by only 0.04 points.