Croatia is ranked 46th in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), an improvement on last year when it placed 51st, the National Competitiveness Council (NVK) said in a statement earlier this week, citing the results of a survey by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The WEF Global Information Technology Report 2014 covered 148 economies, assessing countries' capacity to use ICT for economic growth and prosperity. Croatia climbed from 51st spot in 2013 to 46th, which ranks it among comparatively successful countries, the statement said.
The ICT readiness index is topped by Finland, Singapore, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. Among Southeast European countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia made considerable progress, the former moving up from 78th place to 68th and the latter from 87th to 80th, while other countries slipped in the ranking, notably Greece which now ranks 74th.
The report provides a comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the impact of ICT on the competitiveness of countries and their standard of living. The networked readiness index measures the readiness of economies to use ICT in relation to ICT infrastructure, affordability, the existence of necessary skills for optimal usage, ICT acceptance and usage by the government, businesses and individuals, the business and innovation environment, the political and regulatory framework, and economic and social impacts.
Croatia has improved its position from last year mainly thanks to progress in the environment index and the impact index, moving up 12 spots and 7 spots respectively. In the business and innovation index, it moved up by as many as 14 positions, mostly due to reducing the assessment of the overall tax burden.
On the other hand, Croatia was ranked 88th in the political and regulatory index and scored poorly in the efficiency of the legal system in settling disputes (140th), the efficiency of the legal system in challenging regulations (132nd) and government procurement of advanced technology (136th).
Croatia scored best in the readiness index, mostly thanks to mobile network coverage (1st) and Internet and telephony competition (1st).
The NVK said that Croatia ranked well because of a considerably developed ICT infrastructure, a high rate of ICT literacy, the inclusion of ICT in secondary education and the quality of education.
Source: http://dalje.com/en-croatia/croatia-moves-up-in-global-ict-usage-ranking/507183
