The Network Readiness Index 2024, published by Portulans Institute (PI) and Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, has ranked the United States of America (USA) as the world leader in network readiness for the 3rd consecutive year with an overall score of 78.96.
- Singapore was ranked 2nd (76.94) followed by Finland on 3rd (75.76), Sweden on 4th (74.99) and Republic of Korea on 5th spot (74.85) respectively.
- India is ranked 49th globally with a total score of 53.63 . Among the lower-middle-income countries, India is ranked 2nd only to Vietnam (45th).
Key Points
i.The NRI Index provides a framework for evaluating the effects of Information Communication & Technology (ICT) on society and the development of nations.
ii.The 2024 edition of the NRI is dedicated to the theme of Building a Digital Tomorrow: Public-Private Investments and Global Collaboration for Digital Readiness.
- It draws attention to the role of PPPs in our increasingly interconnected world.
iii.The NRI was first published in 2002. Until 2016, it was part of the Global Information Technology Report (GITR) published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Cornell University, and INSEAD (Institut Europeen d’Administration des Affaires). However, in 2019 it was redesigned and started published by PI.
Basis of Assessment:
i.The NRI 2024 evaluates the performance of 133 economies, on digital technologies.
- It evaluates economies based on indicators across four dimensions of digital readiness – technology, people, governance, and impact
ii.In 2024 rankings, 52 countries are high-income economies, 36 are upper middle-income economies, 32 are lower-middle-income economies, and 13 are low-income economies.
Highlights of the Report:
i.The 2024 NRI rankings have introduced four new countries: Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Trinidad and Tobago, and Yemen.
- Meanwhile, Eswatini, Gambia, Guinea, Lebanon, and Tajikistan have been excluded from the list.
ii.As for regional representation, Singapore and the Republic of Korea are the only countries from Asia and the Pacific that appear in the top 10, while the United States is the sole representative from the Americas. The remaining top 10 positions are occupied by European countries, underscoring their continued dominance in global network readiness.
- Regionally, Europe leads with representation from 41 countries, followed by Africa with 30 countries, Asia and the Pacific with 21, the Americas with 22, the Arab States with 13 and Commonwealth of Independent State (CIS) with 6 countries.
iii.The high-income economies are led by the USA (1) followed by Singapore (2) and Finland (3).
- The upper-middle-income group of countries is led by China (17th), followed by Malaysia (36th) and Thailand (40th).
- The lower-middle income group is led by Vietnam (45th), India (49th) and The Philippines (63rd).
- The group of low-income economies is led by Rwanda (91st), Uganda (118th) and Malawi (119th).
iv.India ranks 12th within the Asia Pacific region with Singapore at the top.
v.India showed considerable progress in Artificial Intelligence (AI) scientific publications (1st) and Domestic market scale (3rd) and in public cloud computing (11th). It has shown strong performance in the People pillar (29th), particularly in digitization of Businesses (36th) and digitally skilled Individuals (17th).
- Moreover, it showed progress in Government promotion of investment in emerging tech (42nd) and impressive Data Capabilities (31st).
vi. However, India faces substantial challenges in digital inclusion (105th), particularly in Socioeconomic gap in use of digital payments (97th) and Gender gap in Internet use (105th). The area of Regulation (79th) also needs to be worked upon, especially in Privacy protection by law content (104th) and E-commerce legislation (87th).
vii.The report shows that the US leads with exceptional performance across technology adoption and innovation metrics, particularly excelling in areas like AI scientific publications, venture capital (VC) deals in AI, and digital business transformation.
Rankings by Pillars
| Country | NRI Ranking | Technology | People | Governance | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India | 49 | 34 | 29 | 88 | 40 |
| United States of America | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 11 |
| Singapore | 2 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 5 |
| Finland | 3 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 1 |
| Sweden | 4 | 7 | 15 | 6 | 2 |
| Republic of Korea | 5 | 10 | 1 | 22 | 13 |
Top Ranker by Pillars in 2024
| Pillar | Economy (Top Ranker) |
|---|---|
| Technology | United States of America |
| People | Republic of Korea |
| Governance | Denmark |
| Impact | Finland |
Indicators with India in Top 5
| Indicators | Rank |
|---|---|
| AI scientific publications | 1 |
| ICT services exports | 1 |
| AI talent concentration | 1 |
| FTTH (fiber-to-the-home) /building Internet subscriptions | 2 |
| International Internet bandwidth | 2 |
| Mobile broadband internet traffic within the country | 2 |
| Domestic market scale | 3 |
| Annual investment in telecommunication services | 4 |
About Portulans Institute (PI):
Founders – Soumitra Dutta and Bruno Lanvin
Headquarters – Washington DC., the United States of America (USA)
