NZ building the ‘Advanced Information Society’

New Zealand leaps ahead towards building the ‘Advanced Information Society’

Research released today shows New Zealand is placed within the most advanced countries in the world in terms of our ability to access and absorb information, a massive jump of 11 places from 2002 rankings, says IDC.

The ‘Information Society Index’ (ISI) is a unique study that combines 23 variables arranged in four infrastructures (Computer, Internet, Information and Social) to calculate and rank nations in one overall index and four sub indexes.

These then establish a standard by which all nations are measured according to their ability to access and absorb information and information technology (IT).

The ISI is the world's first measure of the abilities of 55 nations to participate in the information revolution. While GDP measures a country's economic wealth, the ISI measures its information capacity and wealth.

“New Zealand featured highly in two main areas; computers, which is indicative of our PC penetration and usage in the home and in the education and Government sectors, and social, which assesses such areas as the country’s secondary and tertiary education levels and civil liberties. It was these areas that contributed strongly to our high ranking”, said Dinesh Kumar, IDC New Zealand Country Manager.

Whereas in 2002 New Zealand ranked 17th in the world, and had dropped a single place from 2001, New Zealand has now leapt ahead of heavyweight nations such as United States, United Kingdom and Canada to join the traditionally strong Norwegian countries to round out the top

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