Reports and Studies about Digital Economy and Society Index

EU countries outperform their global counterparts in terms of digital skills, from basic to advanced, but they consistently lag behind in the digitisation of public services, a newly published study shows. The International Digital Economy and Society Index (I-DESI) analyses how EU countries rank in terms of connectivity, digital skills, use of internet, integration of digital technology and digital public services in contrast with 18 other non-EU countries.

Women across Europe are less likely to have specialist digital skills and work in this field compared to men. According to the Commission’s 2020 Women in Digital (WiD) Scoreboard, only 18% of ICT specialists are women and the gender gap is present in all 12 indicators measured.

This study is designed to monitor the progress of EU Member States towards their specific broadband coverage objectives, namely "Universal Broadband Coverage with speeds at least 30 Mbps by 2020" and "50% of households should have broadband subscriptions of 100 Mbps or more by 2020".

eGovernment in Europe is characterised by a “virtuous circle”: public administrations develop better and better digital services because user demand is high; and more and more users access government services online because these services are available and easy to use.

This report summarises the outcome of the study "Shaping the digital transformation in Europe". It outlines nine potential signature initiatives for Europe: bold actions that set a high bar and that directly address the four objectives for Europe’s digital transformation: building and deploying digital solutions for societal challenges and climate; reinvigorating democracy, trust and diversity; securing Europe’s digital technological sovereignty and cybersecurity; and boosting the economy and competitiveness.

The Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) monitors Europe’s overall digital performance and tracks the progress of EU countries in their digital competitiveness.

The Telecoms chapters of the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) provide a snapshot of the electronic communications markets in each Member State, from an investment, regulatory and market perspective. They combine the quantitative evidence from Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) with country-specific regulatory developments, track the development of the telecoms markets of each Member State and provide an important feedback loop.

The study provides comprehensive data on 2018 retail prices of fixed broadband offers for consumers in the EU28, Iceland, Norway, Japan, South Korea, Canada and the USA. The five largest Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in each country were included. Data was collected from ISP websites between 8th and 22nd October 2018.

The Broadband Coverage in Europe study is designed to monitor the progress of EU Member States towards the specific broadband coverage objectives set out in the Digital Agenda for Europe – namely: ‘Universal Broadband Coverage with speeds at least 30 Mbps by 2020’ and ‘Broadband take-up of 50% of households with speeds at least 100 Mbps by 2020’.

Digital technology is rapidly transforming the world’s economies and societies.