The IDCA Digital Readiness of Nations Index now defines the nations of the world into three zones: the Leadership Zone, Opportunity Zone, and Impact Zone.

The Leadership Zone includes nations within the top 25th percentile of overall scores. These nations are progressing well, building relatively strong Digital Infrastructure, developing renewable energy while reducing overall emissions, and establishing relatively strong social and governance environments. These nations hypothetically offer low-risk/reward development opportunities,

The Opportunity Zone encompasses the broad range of nations within the 25th to 75th percentiles. Each nation within this diverse group has needs to build out significant new Digital Infrastructure, to improve its renewable and emissions initiatives substantially, and strengthen its social and governance environments. These nations also have sufficient economic strength to offer moderate-risk/reward opportunities.

The Impact Zone represents nations in the 75th percentile and beyond. Nations in this group are in need of progressive, patient investment and development to achieve their potential. Risk-reward scenarios typically run from high to very high, along with opportunities to participate in fundamental, positive change.

Digital Readiness measures the state of each nation's current Digital Infrastructure and socioeconomic conditions that support it. Each nation has a unique Digital Readiness fingerprint, and thereby a unique path along which it can develop its own Digital Economy. T

The Digital Readiness Index integrates several hundred parameters, and can be expressed on an intuitive 0-100 scale. The Index was first published in January 2023. It is updated continuously, then updated formally in January 2024. It currently covers 150 nations, scoring them overall and in four key categories: Economy, Environment, Social, and Governance. This enables an ESG+ analysis of the nations of the world.

Country Examples
Leadership Zone: Numerous EU nations, the USA and Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, Georgia, and Malaysia. There is a total of 39 countries in this zone.

Opportunity Zone: Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, the UAE, Vietnam, Philippines, Mauritius, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, and Ethiopia. There is a total of 74 countries in this zone.

Impact Zone: Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Timor-Leste, Algeria, Cameroon, Madagascar, and Nigeria. There is a total of 37 countries in this zone.

IDCA can produce in-depth reports on each of the 150 nations we cover in this research. We can also produce reports comparing countries, and reports across regions and income levels. Contact us directly with your requests.

Photograph from the EU.