Lebanon ranked 62nd among 191 countries worldwide and 6th out of 19 Middle Eastern and North African countries in the United Nations’ 2003 Technological Infrastructure Index.
The survey, which defines a country’s information and communication technology infrastructure capacity, is a weighted average of six primary indices that cover the penetration rate of personal computers, telephone lines, internet usage, on-line population, mobile subscriptions and television sets. The index was released Thursday by Saradar Weekly Monitor.
Lebanon received a 0.188 score ­ higher than the 0.177 points global average ­ and ranked ahead of Argentina, Russia and Brazil but came behind Grenada, Dominica and Turkey. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the country ranked after Israel, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait but preceded Oman, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Jordan.
On the personal computers sub-index, which measures the PC penetration rate per 1,000 inhabitants, Lebanon ranked fifth in the MENA. It also ranked fifth on the on-line population, telephone line and mobile user sub-indices. The individual score on each of the indices was higher than the respective average for MENA countries.