South Korea tops global ICT Development Index for second straight year:ITU

The Republic of Korea tops the global ICT Development Index rankings in 2016 for the second consecutive year, according to a new report released Tuesday by International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

The ITU's flagship annual Measuring the Information Society Report captures the level of ICT developments in 175 economies worldwide and compares progress since the year 2014.

The top ten countries of the Development Index 2016 also include two other economies in the Asia-Pacific region and seven European countries, reflecting the high level of ICT investment and innovation occurring in developed and high-income developing economies.

The report said at the end of 2016, there are almost as many mobile-cellular subscriptions as people on earth and 95 percent of the global population lives in an area that is covered by a mobile-cellular signal.

Meanwhile, the spread of 3G and 4G networks across the world make the Internet increasingly available to more and more people. In 2016, mobile-broadband networks covered 84 percent of the world's population.

"To bring more people online, it is important to focus on reducing overall socio-economic inequalities," said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. "Education and income levels are strong determinants of whether or not people use the Internet."

However, the report pointed out that many people still do not own or use a mobile phone. In developing economies where recent household data is available, close to 20 percent of the population, on average, is still not using a mobile phone.

Most people who do not own or use a mobile phone are among the youngest (5-14 years old) and those more than 74 years old segments of the population. Endit