The new 2016 Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI Index) still has Denmark at the top in terms of being the most digital country.
Denmark retained its top position from last year ahead of the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Belgium. According to the index, 88 percent of Danish users use eBanking and 82 percent engage in online shopping.
“The digital development is moving really fast these years and it is essential that we have a good framework in place for companies to utilise new opportunities to generate growth,” said the business and growth minister, Troels Lund Poulsen.
“Industrialisation 4.0 and digital growth is one of the key aspects of the government’s business and growth policy, and we must take advantage of the new options, such as increased automation and use of data.”
Poulsen went on to reveal that the government was working on a new joint digital strategy that aims to improve public digital solutions for the business sector.
READ MORE: Danes top EU digital society index
Challenges ahead
But there is still work to do, according to the DESI Index country report for Denmark.
“Some challenges remain in the connectivity area, where the percentage of fast broadband subscriptions has grown but is lower than what would be expected from such a digitalised country,” the report found.
“Furthermore, the not so high share of ICT specialists in the workforce (3.9 percent) could cause some long term issues to business investment in ICT.”
The DESI Index (here in English) is compiled by assessing 30 different indicators across five central themes to calculate a fixed weighting system to rank the countries according to the data collected.
The UK, Estonia, Ireland, Germany and Luxembourg rounded up the top 10 of the DESI Index, while Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Italy were the bottom four.
