Last month we had a look at World Wide Web Foundation’s latest Web Index report, which analysed the performance of over 60 countries when it came to their use of the web.
The report found that Sweden used the web for the greatest benefit of its citizens, beating the US by just over 2% and the United Kingdom by nearly 7%.
The report looked at how much of an impact the web is having on social, political, and economic activities in each of the 61 countries. And there were some genuinely surprising results; Ireland, which has been suffering badly from the recession, makes the greatest use of the web for economic benefit.
Among the data collected, the Foundation looked at how accessible the government was online, how the government uses open licences, the use of website by political parties, how many people use the web, the use of the web by the elderly or disabled etc.
Eight of the top ten countries are from North America or Europe; New Zealand and Australia make the top ten in 7th and 8th place respectively. Sweden, with a web index of 100, holds the top position and has seen the greatest impact of the web according to the results. The United States of America is second with a score of 97.31.
The West might benefit most from the web but only four of the top ten countries are members of the EU (two other European countries – Switzerland and Norway – on the list are not part of the EU). Sweden and Ireland bookend the top 10, while the UK and Finland hold the third and fifth places respectively.
