India has been ranked 131 out of 167 nations on ICT Development Index (IDI) that measures the level of information and communication technology access. It was revealed in UN International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) flagship annual Measuring the Information Society Report (MISR) .
Key highlights of report
- Globally 3.2 billion people are now online i.e. having internet connection representing 43.4 per cent of the world’s population.
- Worldwide, mobile-cellular subscriptions have reached almost 7.1 billion representing 95 per cent of the global population.
- Top three countries in IDI 2015: South Korea, Denmark and Iceland.
- Disparity in Internet access: 81.3 per cent of households in the developed world have home Internet access, compared to 34.1 per cent in the developing world. It is just 6.7 per cent in the 48 UN-designated Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
- Asia-Pacific Region: It is the most diverse region in terms of ICT development that reflects stark differences in levels of economic development.
- 6 economies in this region including the South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan have IDI rankings in the top 20 of the global distribution.
- This region also includes ten of the IDI’s least connected countries including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
India: Mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions in India per 100 inhabitants is 74.48 in 2014. The percentage of households with computer is 13 per cent, while the percentage of households with Internet access was 15.33. Further the percentage of individuals using the Internet has grown to 18 per cent in 2014.
