South Korea retained its lead as the top country in the ITU's latest annual ICT Development Index (IDI).
The IDI is a composite index that combines 11 indicators into one benchmark measure that determines the level of ICT development across the world.
The 2016 edition of the “Measuring the Information Society Report,” which contained the IDI, was launched during the World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium (WTIS) in Gaborone, Botswana on Tuesday.
South Korea bested 174 economies with an IDI score of 8.84, up from 8.78 in 2015. Two other Asia-Pacific economies made it to the top 10 - Hong Kong and Japan, along with seven European countries - Iceland, Denmark, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Norway.
The report noted that the differences in IDI 2016 values among the highest-performing countries are relatively small, with only 0.47 points separating those in first and tenth positions.
“This reflects the high level of ICT development that has been achieved in many developed and some high-income developing countries, which have experienced high levels of investment in ICT infrastructure and innovation as well as high levels of adoption of new services by consumers,” the report said.
"This year's results show that nearly all of the 175 countries covered by the index improved their IDI values between 2015 and 2016," said Brahima Sanou, Director of ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau, which produces the report each year.
"During the same period, stronger improvements have been made on ICT use than access, mainly as a result of strong growth in mobile broadband uptake globally. This has allowed an increasing number of people, in particular from the developing world, to join the information society and benefit from the many services and applications provided through the internet."
ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao, however, emphasized that there is still a need to bring more people online and it is important to focus on reducing overall socio-economic inequalities.
"Education and income levels are strong determinants of whether or not people use the internet. ICTs will be essential in meeting each and every one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and this report plays an important role in the SDG process. Without measurement and reporting, we cannot track the progress being made and identify areas that require action, and this is why ITU gathers data and publishes this important report every year,” he said.
While the report agreed that increasingly ubiquitous, open, fast and content-rich internet has changed the way many people live, communicate, and do business, delivering great benefits for people, governments, organizations and the private sector, it said many people are still not using the internet, and many users do not fully benefit from its potential.
Data shows that in 2016, mobile-broadband networks covered 84% of the world's population, yet with 47.1% internet user penetration, the number of internet users remains well below the number of people with network access. While infrastructure deployment is crucial, high prices and other barriers remain important challenges to getting more people to enter the digital world.
The report also noted that internet users with higher levels of education use more advanced services, such as e-commerce and online financial and government services to a higher degree than internet users with lower levels of education and income levels, who predominantly use the internet for communication and entertainment purposes.
“This suggests that many people are yet to benefit fully from the opportunities brought by the internet,” it said, adding that policy makers must address broader socio-economic inequalities and help people acquire the necessary skills to take full advantage of the internet.