Nigeria ranked 134th on global ICT Development Index

Nigeria has been ranked 134th out of 167 countries on the ICT Development Index (IDI) for 2015.

This is revealed by the International Communication Union (ITU), the UN specialised agency that coordinates the global ICT sector in its annual Measuring the Information Society Report that was released this week.

The ICT Development Index (IDI) is a composite index that combines 11 indicators into one benchmark measure that can be used to monitor and compare developments in information and communication technology (ICT) between countries and over time, according to ITU.

The IDI is divided into the following three sub-indices; Access, Use and Skills. The Access sub-index captures ICT readiness, and includes five infrastructure and access indicators, including fixed telephone subscriptions, mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions, international Internet bandwidth per Internet user, households with a computer, and households with Internet access.

The Use sub-index captures ICT intensity, and includes three intensity and usage indicators, which includes individuals using the Internet, fixed broadband subscriptions and mobile-broadband subscriptions.

The Skills sub-index seeks to capture capabilities or skills which are important for ICTs. It includes three proxy indicators; adult literacy, gross secondary enrollment and gross tertiary enrolment.

Nigeria scored 2.61 out of 10 in the overall global ranking. This is a marginal improvement of 0.65 over a period of 5 years. The country scored 1.96 out of 10 in 2010 when it was ranked 133rd. On the African scene, Nigeria ranks 13th, trailing behind Mauritius (5.41), Seychelles (4.96), South Africa (4.90), Cape Verde (4.62), Ghana (3.90), Botswana (3.82), Namibia (3.41), Kenya (3.02), Zimbabwe (2.90), Lesotho (2.81) Senegal (2.68) and Gabon (2.68).

On the Access sub-index, Nigeria ranks 142nd, scoring 2.82 out of 10 as against 2.33 in 2010 when the country ranked 135.

On the Use sub-index, Nigeria scored 1.81, ranking 113th as against 0.82 in 2010 and a rank of 109. On the Skills sub-index, Nigeria scored 3.79, ranking 147th as against 3.51 in 2010 with unchanged rank.

The IDI was developed by TUI in 2008 in response to requests from ITU member states to develop an overall global ICT index.