Scandinavia tops world IT rankings

computersThe World Economic Forum has published its annual IT rankings and Scandinavia has come out in top place. Of all Scandinavian countries, Denmark has surfaced in first place in terms of adopting and applying information technology and telecommunications.

According to reports in the Information Age, the annual survey looks at technology use in 127 countries around the world.

Denmark picked up top prize for the second year in a row although receiving fierce competition from Sweden, which came in second place. Switzerland placed third. Perhaps most surprisingly, Americans came in fourth and Britons dropped in the rankings this year, from ninth place to 12th.

Despite the fact that IT is a growing industry in India, overall the country lost ground in this year’s rankings, slipping four places. China and the Republic of Korea were two countries which improved their rankings over the year.

Some of the lowest ranked countries in the world were Chad, in 127th place and Burundi and Zimbabwe.

The Global Information Technology Report considers the ability and desire of a government, business and individuals in a country to use and adopt new advances in information technology.

“Establishing a pervasive and prosperous Internet culture is as much about creating the right business environment as it is about adopting the right technology,” the report found.