The UK has been ranked first in the provision of digital public services in Europe, according to a Telefonica report measuring the world’s digital economy.
The Index on Digital Life ranked 34 countries on three aspects – digital openness, which looks at how well digital infrastructure facilitates access to information; digital confidence, including attitudes to privacy; and digital entrepreneurship.
The report authors say these categories have been used to help national, local and regional governments understand the dynamics of digital life in a way that will help them develop new policies.
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It ranks the UK fourth in the world overall for digital life, giving it a score of 88.7 out of 100. This puts it behind the US, Canada and Australia, with scores of 96.3, 92.4 and 90.1, respectively.
On digital public services – which is part of the digital openness ranking and is defined as everything from paying bills online to the provision of IT in schools – the UK was ranked number one in Europe.
The UK came third in the overall digital openness category, with a score of 93.1, behind Canada, which scored 100, and the US, which scored 97.3.
Looking at the other two major categories, the UK came third in digital confidence and fifth in digital entrepreneurship. However, the report ranked it first in digital adoption.
“The UK has many strengths that make it poised to excel in digital life,” the report stated. This includes world-class universities, government investment in digital economy research strong financial industries.
However, it said that, although London is a global financial hub, “the availability of micro-scale venture capital could be stronger”.
Image credit: Flickr – JD Hancock
