Technology shortfall holds back economic growth

World economic growth could stagnate if the development of high-tech infrastructure in a number of developing countries is not improved.

A survey of 42 countries by US consulting firm McConnell International found that more than half need "substantial improvement" in areas such as network quality, information security, skills and governance. And failure to change that would have "an impact far beyond their borders", according to the report.

Africa and the Middle East fared the worst in the survey, while countries like Estonia, Costa Rica, Taiwan and Bulgaria scored highly for their computer security laws, skilled workers and infrastructure.

Latin America and Asia were also rated fairly highly by the survey, however, software piracy and copyright infringement laws were considered inadequate.