Qatar is among the top five Arab states and top 60 countries globally in the ICT Development Index (IDI), a new report has revealed.
IDI is a composite measure that ranks 166 countries according to their level of ICT access, use and skills.
ICDL Arabia, the governing body and certification authority for the ICDL certification programme in Egypt, GCC states and Iraq, has expanded on the recent findings of the 2014 report published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
The ITU’s flagship annual report, “Measuring the Information Society Report”, has identified Gulf countries among the group of “most dynamic countries”, having recorded above-average improvements in their IDI rank over the past 12 months.
According to the UN report, Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman are the top five among Arab states and within the top 60 globally in the IDI. Qatar ranks third with an IDI of 7.01, while Bahrain is ranked number one with 7.40.
Globally, Qatar is ranked 34, with Denmark coming first and South Korea second.
The report highlighted that Internet usage continued to grow steadily at 6.6% globally in 2014. The number of Internet users in developing countries has doubled in the last five years (2009-2014), with two-third of all people online now living in the developing countries.
By the end of 2014, almost 44% of households globally will have Internet access at home, up from 40% last year and 30% in 2010, it is observed. In developed countries, 78% of households now have home Internet access, compared to 31% in developing countries, with just 5% in the 48 UN Least Developed Countries.
Jamil Ezzo, director-general of ICDL Arabia, said: “The recent UN study demonstrates the GCC countries’ leading role in the technology shift.”
