Mastercard’s new study – the 2017 Digital Development Index – produced in partnership with the Fletcher School reveals that Portugal is the 24th most digitally developed economy.
Of 60 countries analysed, Portugal is part of a group of countries which are developing and growing relatively rapidly and are therefore considered attractive to investors.
The Digital Development Index is a study conducted since 2014 by Mastercard and Fletcher School, Tufts University, which attempts to analyse an economy’s degree of digital development and how connectivity is having an impact on millions of people all around the world.
The 10 most digitally advanced countries are Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Singapore, South Korea, United Kingdom, Hong Kong and the USA.
As far as countries which have seen the highest digital development, these are Singapore, United Kingdom, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Estonia, Hong Kong, Japan and Israel.
The study is based on the response of the economies of 60 countries based on 170 indicators and 4 driving factors, consisting of the supply available (access to the internet and infrastructure); the institutional environment (government policies/laws and resources); innovation (R&D investment and digital startups) and consumer demand for digital technology.
Confidence in the digital environment, though hard to measure, was also a factor considered. Western and Northern Europe came top of the ranking in this respect due to factors such as the framework and major investment in security measures, privacy and liability.
