New Zealand moves up ITU tech development index

In 2012 New Zealand moved two places up the ITU global technology rankings to 16. That puts New Zealand one place ahead of the USA — in front of France, Germany and Canada.

The report was published just days after Kim Dotcom wrongly described New Zealand’s internet as ‘third world’.

The ITU table measures the relative uptake of information and communications technology comparing nations. The report Measuring the Information Society 2012, shows Korea is the world’s most advanced technology economy, followed by Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland. Australia is at 11.

The index ranks 155 countries according to their level of access, use and skills. It  compares 2010 and 2011 scores.

There’s a huge gap between the world’s richest economies — the top 30 or so in the ITU list — and the developing world. At the bottom of the list are the so-called least connected countries, all are in Africa.