On 18 December 2020, Directorate-General CONNECT published the new edition of the I-DESI, the International Digital Economy and Society Index which 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. The report mirrors and extends the results of the European Commission’s Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which was published in September.

According to the new report, 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. The very best EU countries are at the same or a higher level than the best global countries.  Finland is the leading country in the new I-DESI index, also ranking first in the 2019 and 2020 DESI. The leading non-EU country is the United States and EU27 Member States filled four of the top ten positions for the main I-DESI index, followed by Switzerland, Norway and Iceland. However, the EU average is still below the main advanced economies such as Australia, Japan Canada or South Korea and it ranks just slightly above China.

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