Bangladesh has improved four places in global ICT development index since 2010, according to a International Telecommunication Union report.
The country is now ranked 144 out of 167 countries. In 2010 the ranking was 148.
Asia-Pacific is the most diverse region in terms of ICT development, reflecting stark differences in levels of economic development, said the report released on Monday.
Six economies in the region – including the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong (China) and Japan – have IDI rankings in the top 20 of the global distribution, it said.
However, the region also includes 10 of the Index’s least connected countries, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The report said the countries throughout the region, and particularly middle-income nations, have however shown considerable improvements in their IDI values between 2010 and 2015.
The most dynamic improvements in IDI rankings in the region were achieved by Thailand, Mongolia and Bhutan, which rose by 18, 13 and 9 places, respectively, in the global rankings during the period. The average growth in value for the region was 0.85 points, just below the global average.
The report said a number of 3.2bn people are now online around the world, representing 43.4% of the global population, while mobile-cellular subscriptions have reached almost 7.1bn worldwide, with over 95% of the global population now covered by a mobile-cellular signal.
Mobile-network coverage: reaching the last half billion
Over 95% of the global population is now covered by mobile-cellular services, meaning that there are still an estimated 350m people worldwide who live in places which are still out of reach of a mobile network – a figure that has dropped from 450m a year ago. But while 89% of the world’s urban population is now covered by a 3G network, only 29% of the world’s 3.4bn people living in rural areas benefit from 3G coverage.
More people online than ever before; but growth slows
By the end of this year, 46% of households globally will have Internet access at home, up from 44% last year and just 30% five years ago, in 2010. In the developed world, 81.3% of households now have home Internet access, compared to 34.1% in the developing world, and just 6.7% in the 48 UN-designated Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
ICT Development Index country rankings: widening gaps
In 2015, the Republic of Korea is ranked at the top of the index while Republic of Korea is closely followed by Denmark and Iceland, in second and third place.
The IDI top 30 ranking includes countries from Europe and high-income nations from other regions including Australia, Bahrain, Barbados, Canada, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Macao (China), New Zealand, Singapore and the United States. Almost all countries surveyed improved their IDI ranking this year.
Predictions up to 2020
In 2014, the ITU membership adopted the Connect 2020 Agenda, which sets out a series of goals and targets for improvements in the growth and inclusiveness of ICTs, their sustainability, and the contribution of innovation and partnerships. The Measuring the Information Society report, for the first time, takes stock of where the world stands today in terms of these goals and targets, and makes estimates for their achievement by the year 2020.
