Denmark tops tech-savvy list

Denmark is the most technologically savvy nation, taking the top spot from Sweden for the first time in four years.

Sweden is now second, followed by the US, Switzerland and Canada.

The UK comes in at number 10, while Indonesia, Vietnam, India and Turkey occupy the lowest slots.

The rankings are based on the Information Society Index (ISI) from analyst house IDC, which aims to measure the ability of 53 countries to access and use information technology.

IDC rates each country on a total of 15 variables in four areas: computers, internet, telecoms and social.

Technical variables include the number of households with PCs, the percentage of GDP spent on IT, the number of internet users, broadband adoption and the number of mobile handsets shipped.

Social factors, such as the quality of education and government corruption, are also considered.

Denmark won with impressive technical figures such as 84 per cent of the population with home internet access and 59 per cent mobile penetration.

UK came in highest (eighth place) for computer and social factors, 12th for internet and 22nd for telecoms.

David Emberley, senior analyst for the IDC, noted a new trend this year - less of a link between social and technology scores. Previously companies with high social rankings tended to have a high level of technology. "But there seems to be a loophole where wireless adoption is concerned," he said in a statement. "This is one area in which consumer adoption has been strong even in some of those countries with lower overall scores for social freedoms."

Korea, for instance, came in 23rd for social factors but first for telecoms, which includes wireless services adoption and use of mobile handsets.

Reversing that trend, Australia came in significantly higher for social (sixth) than for telecom and internet (16th).

More information about the study, Information Society Index 2004: Rankings and Data, can be found at IDC's website.