Korea Ranks Second in the World on the ITU's New ICT Development Index

The International Telecommunications Union has just issued a new report entitled Measuring the Information Society: The ICT Development Index.  Earlier indexes constructed by the ITU included the digital access index, and the digital opportunity index (DOI)  In recent years, South Korea had ranked number one in the world on the DOI.  Essentially the new ICT Development Index (IDI) is a response to calls for a single index that will allow nations of the world to assess their progress toward building the information society and eliminating the digital divide.  As shown in the accompanying graphic, all of the top ten countries on the IDI are from Northern Europe, with the exception of South Korea.  The complete report can be downloaded in a PDF version from the ITU's website, using this link.

South Korea still leads the world in ICT development

It's that time of the year again (see my post from last year here).  The ITU has issued the 2012 version of its annual report, Measuring the Information Society.  This report is probably the single most authoritative and comprehensive study aimed at measuring ICT for development, as it is conducted by the ITU on behalf of and with input from all of its member states.
Again this year Korea ranked number one in the world on the ICT Development Index (IDI) aa composite index that combines 11 indicators into a single benchmark measure used to monitor and compare developments in ICT across countries. These indicators are grouped into three sub-indexes corresponding to ICT access, ICT use and ICT skills.
I've reproduced one of the charts from this year's report at the upper left (click on the graphic to see a full size version).   It compares the global distribution of gross national income for selected countries in the world, on the left, with subscribed capacity (a measure of the capacity of fixed, mobile, voice and data telecommunications subscriptions).  In essence, it shows that Korea has huge capacity, relative to its GNI, as shown by the difference in size of the red slices of the pie chart.  Another way of thinking about this is speed.  South Korea has far and away the fastest digital networks in the world.

Korea still the world's most advanced internet and telecommunications economy

The ITU has released its annual study on Measuring the Information Society, and South Korea remains the number one country in the world, as measured by its ICT Development Index.  As shown in the accompanying excerpt from Table 2.2 of the ITU report (click on the graphic to see a larger version), Korea was followed in the 2010 rankings by four Scandinavian countries and Hong Kong.  The Director of the ITU's telecommunications development bureau, in the foreword to this new study, makes the following observation.
"The ICT for development debate is witnessing an obvious shift:  the focus is no longer on the mobile-cellular miracle, but on the need for high speed broadband Internet access.  The report shows that wireless broadband Internet access is the strongest growth sector, with prepaid mobile broadband mushrooming in many developing countries and internet users shifting from fixed to wireless connections and devices.  The emergence of new mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablet computers, is accelerating this process, but they are still too expensive in developing countries and there is a need to develop more affordable models and products.  Furthermore, the availability of bandwidth and capacity will increasingly determine the use and beneficial impacts of ICTs."   The Director goes on to note that the policy focus is most often on enhancing ICT infrastructure and access, yet the full impact of ICT in development will only be felt once people are using technologies effectively.
The broad global trends he refers to are illustrated in the second accompanying graphic (again, click to see a full-size version).  Although the rapid adoption of mobile broadband is only an incipient trend as shown in the line graph on the left of the graphic, its growth rate, shown by the bar graph on the right supports the notion that the world is on the verge of an explosive growth in mobile broadband over the next several years, with implications for developed and developing countries alike.
There is much, much more to read in this report, for those of you who follow the topic of ICT in development.

More on ICT Indexes

My previous post noted the differences between Korea's ranking on the Digital Opportunity Index (DOI) and its world rank according to the Networked Readiness Index. In fact, although these two indices receive considerable attention, there are many more, as shown in Table 2 (click on the graphic to see a larger image) from the Global Information Society Watch website. The indices listed in this table all represent efforts to measure information and communication technology (ICT) and the manner in which it contributes to "development." However, they vary considerably in how ICT and development are conceptualized. They also differ in terms of the variables that are measured, the number of countries in which they are measured, and other important aspects. In future posts I plan to take a closer look at all of the major indices. However, at first glance it seems that the Digital Opportunity Index is a leader because of its origins and auspices. It is a product of the ITU's Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development , an international, multi-stakeholder initiative to improve the availability and quality of ICT data and indicators, particularly in developing countries. The World Bank's Knowledge Assessment Methodology (KAM) has produced other indexes, notably the Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) which can be explored in depth at their web site. For an interesting treatment of how these and other indices, including the Networked Readiness Index, compare, see the report "Measuring Progress" at the Global Information Society Watch website.

The Korean peninsula today: ICT leader and Digital Divide

The ITU has released its annual Measuring the Information Society report and, not surprisingly, South Korea ranks number one in the world on the ICT development index (IDI).  As noted here in earlier posts, the IDI debuted in 2009 as a successor to the ITU's earlier digital access and digital opportunity indices.
The map published by the ITU to show the global distribution of the new IDI clearly highlights the southern half of the Korean peninsula.   At the same time, while no data are reported for North Korea, the map vividly depicts the world's deepest, most tragic and poignant digital divide--that between South and North Korea.  If data were available for North Korea, they would undoubtedly show that it ranks near the bottom of all nations in the world on the IDI, owing to both lack of infrastructure and efforts by the government to control and limit the flow of information within, into and out of the country.