Global | Digitalization for sustainable economic development

In the urgency of transforming the world into a more sustainable place, the process of digitalization of the economy must be established in a sound and homogeneous way. BBVA Research's DiGiX index depicts the digital frontiers defined by the digitization levels of 99 countries.

Key points

• Key points:
• In the last three years, the digital frontiers describe a degree of saturation at the levels of developed countries, in the top of the ranking.
• However, there is a wide digital divide between developed and emerging countries. For the latter, the digital divide has narrowed in the last three years, pointing towards a trend of convergence. However, for these countries, there is still a huge potential for digitalization by moving towards higher levels of the frontier.
• In terms of progress, between 2020 and 2021, the two countries that advanced the most digitally, compared to the others, were Russia (10 places) and South Africa (+9). At the opposite extreme, Luxembourg (-11) and the Philippines (-8) showed the greatest decline.
• The new economic trends resulting from the pandemic crisis point to a new order based on regional trade blocs. This generates major incentives to close the digital divide within regions.
• Policies aimed at making equal progress in digital transformation processes are a priority for new production chains in search of more sustainable growth and greater resilience of countries.

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