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Research by the World Economic Forum into network readiness has named Sweden as the top performing country for 2010-2011.
The WEF said: “ICT continues to drive innovation, productivity and efficiency gains across industries as well as to improve citizens’ daily lives.” The study sought to shed light on the present state of network readiness across the globe.
It looked at 138 countries (over 98 per cent of global GDP) from the developing and developed world.
Sweden was among several Nordic countries doing well in the rankings, with Finland and Denmark coming in at third and seventh respectively, for example.
Singapore took second place, Switzerland took fourth and the US was fifth.
Eleven European countries in total managed to get into the top twenty, including the Netherlands (11th), Germany (13th) and France (20th).
Asia and the Middle East both featured prominently in the rankings. Latin American and Caribbean regions had improved on previous studies, but still failed to make the top 20. The majority of sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa followed a downward trend.
The study pointed out that technological improvements over the next decade will create a dramatic shift in economic and social dynamics across the world.
Soumitra Dutta and Irene Mia, authors of the research’s summary, said: “This presents an opportunity for economies – and cities – all over the globe to take decisive steps to gain the competitive advantage that can be derived from widespread use of broadband networks.”
