Digital Poverty is still Holding Back Global Growth and Development. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ranks 35th in the world for Network Readiness
The world’s developing and emerging economies are failing to fully exploit the potential of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to drive social and economic transformation and catch up with more advanced nations, according to the Global Information Technology Report 2015, co-published today by the World Economic Forum, INSEAD and Cornell University, with the support of Strategy&, formerly Booz & Company and CISCO.
Data from the report’s Networked Readiness Index (NRI), which benchmarks 143 economies in terms of their capacity to prepare for, use and leverage ICTs, suggest that the gap between the best and worst performing economies is widening. Those in the top 10% have seen twice the level of improvement since 2012 as those in the bottom 10%. This demonstrates the scale of the challenge facing developing and emerging nations as they seek to develop the infrastructure, institutions and skills needed to reap the full benefits of ICTs, as only 39% of the global population enjoys access to the internet despite the fact that more than half now owns a mobile phone.
The Network Readiness Index 2015 ranks three GCC countries in the top 30 list globally for the third consecutive year (United Arab Emirates — 23, Qatar — 27, Bahrain — 30), and another two (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — 35, Oman — 42) in the top 50, demonstrating that they continue to embrace ICT to boost their national competitiveness. In contrast, countries in the Levant and North Africa still lag behind and face challenges to fully leverage ICT, including Morocco (78), Egypt (94), Lebanon (99) and Algeria (120).
“The Kingdom’s drop in NRI rankings, although limited (from 32nd to 35th), shows that the ‘readiness pillar’ remains a critical area for Saudi Arabia. Limited local competition has been accompanied by lower levels of affordability for both fixed and mobile communications, with the notable exception of Internet services. Business usage has stagnated, while individual usage increased as well as skills. KSA’s investment in education and e-skills can hence be seen as key to further enhancing the country’s NRI rankings in the future.” said Bruno Lanvin, co-editor of the report, Executive Director, Global Indices, INSEAD.
“GCC countries continue to perform well in the global ICT arena, with three countries in the global top 30” said Hilal Halaoui, Partner at Strategy&. “However, opportunity exists for the region to enhance its ICT competitiveness. Several countries have slipped in the last year with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt all regressing by up to four ranks in the last year.”
In line with the digital inclusion emphasis of this year’s GITR, a large digital divide in the MENA region exists with three countries —Algeria, Libya and Yemen. All three rank in the bottom quartile globally, while most of the GCC countries rank among the top quartile globally.
Currently, KSA is ranked 35th globally and fourth in the GCC. Government usage of ICT provides its highest global ranking, coming in at the eight place, while individual usage exhibited a significant jump last year moving from 44th to 36th place. However, KSA regressed on seven out of the ten sub-pillars, exhibiting the biggest drop of 24 ranks on the Affordability sub-pillar, which assess the cost of accessing ICT and the level of competition.
“KSA’s relative decline is a symptom of other countries, regionally and globally, making significant strides across ICT environment, usage and impact and KSA needs to re-emphasize critical ICT factors to sustain its regional and global ICT competitiveness”, said Milind Singh, Principal with Strategy&, formerly Booz & Company.
The Networked Readiness Index 2015 (Overall World ranking)
| Country | World Rank 2015 | World Rank 2014 | Change |
| United Arab Emirates | 23 | 24 | 1 |
| Qatar | 27 | 23 | -4 |
| Bahrain | 30 | 29 | -1 |
| Saudi Arabia | 35 | 32 | -3 |
| Oman | 42 | 40 | -2 |
| Jordan | 52 | 44 | -8 |
| Kuwait | 72 | 72 | 0 |
| Morocco | 78 | 99 | 21 |
| Tunisia | 81 | 87 | 6 |
| Egypt | 94 | 91 | -3 |
| Iran, Islamic Rep. | 96 | 104 | 8 |
| Lebanon | 99 | 97 | -2 |
| Algeria | 120 | 129 | 9 |
| Libya | 131 | 138 | 7 |
| Yemen | 136 | 140 | 4 |
Saudi Arabia’s most significant strengths include Mobile phone subscription (6), Government procurement of advanced tech (7), ICT use and government efficiency (7) and Importance of ICT to government vision (8). Its most significant weakness include Fixed broadband internet tariffs (124), Number of procedures to start a business (107) and Number of days to start a business (101).
”ICTs hold the potential of transforming economies and societies. They can help address some of the most pressing issues of our time and support inclusive growth. Growing inequalities are threatening the power of ICT to be a global engine for inclusive growth. The MENA region is a perfect illustration of this phenomenon, where the continued progress made by GCC countries is in stark contrast with the stagnation faced by Levant and North African countries”, added Lanvin.
Country Profile
2015
Saudi Arabia
| Metric (Ranking) | 2015 | 2014 | 1Y-Change |
| NRI | 35 | 32 | -3 |
| Environment | 29 | 27 | -2 |
| Political Regulatory | 32 | 32 | -1 |
| Business and Innovation | 26 | 23 | -3 |
| Readiness | 75 | 54 | -21 |
| Infra & Digital Content | 32 | 33 | 1 |
| Affordability | 122 | 98 | -24 |
| Skills | 45 | 55 | 10 |
| Usage | 29 | 31 | 2 |
| Individual | 36 | 44 | 8 |
| Business | 42 | 34 | -8 |
| Government | 8 | 6 | -2 |
| Impact | 38 | 32 | -6 |
| Economic | 41 | 37 | -4 |
| Social | 37 | 22 | -15 |
| Metric (Scores) | 2015 | 2014 | 3Y-Change |
| NRI | 4.66 | 4.78 | 0.04 |
| Environment | 4.77 | 4.86 | -0.23 |
| Political and Regulatory | 4.51 | 4.59 | -0.24 |
| Business and Innovation | 5.03 | 5.12 | -0.21 |
| Readiness | 4.68 | 5.09 | -0.46 |
| Infra & Digital Content | 5.39 | 5.32 | 0.40 |
| Affordability | 3.22 | 4.69 | -1.59 |
| Skills | 5.42 | 5.26 | -0.19 |
| Usage | 4.88 | 4.78 | 0.55 |
| Individual | 5.27 | 4.67 | 1.19 |
| Business | 3.95 | 4.04 | -0.25 |
| Government | 5.42 | 5.62 | 0.72 |
| Impact | 4.30 | 4.40 | 0.29 |
| Economic | 3.68 | 3.65 | 0.04 |
| Social | 4.91 | 5.14 | 0.54 |
Under the theme ICTs for Inclusive Growth, The Global Information Technology Report 2015 also features 10 essays from leading experts and practitioners that showcase solutions to allow everyone to benefit from and participate in the ICT revolution.
The report is the result of a partnership between the World Economic Forum, INSEAD and the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. It benefits from the valuable support of Cisco and Strategy&.
The editors of the report are Soumitra Dutta, Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean and Professor of Management; Samuel Curtis, Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University; Thierry Geiger, Senior Economist, World Economic Forum; and Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director, Global Indices, INSEAD.
About the Networked Readiness Index
Since 2001, the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) assesses on an annual basis the factors, policies and institutions that enable a country to leverage information and communication technologies (ICTs) for shared prosperity. This assessment is based on an aggregation of 53 individual indicators grouped in four main components: environment, readiness, usage and impacts. The individual indicators use a combination of data from publicly available sources and the results of the Executive Opinion Survey, a global survey of 13,000 business executives conducted by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with its network of 160 Partner Institutes.
Notes to Editors
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