Web Index ranks Philippines 32nd among 61 countries

A GLOBAL INDEX has placed the Philippines in the middle of 61 countries gauged according to their use of and impact from the Web.

THE WEB Index 2012’s findings are expected to help stakeholders act on areas that need improvement.

The first Web Index 2012, released yesterday by the World Wide Web Foundation — a Geneva- and Washington-based non-profit organization formed in 2009 by Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee — ranked the Philippines 32nd with an overall score of 46.81 and seventh among the 14 Asia-Pacific countries included in the study.

Using 2011 data, the study measured Web use, utility and impact on countries using indicators grouped under three subindices: communications and institutional infrastructure; Web content and use; as well as political, economic and social impact.

Scores range from zero to 100, with the latter serving as the highest mark per indicator.

Sweden topped the global list, with the rest of the top 10 consisting of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Finland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, Norway and Ireland.

The bottom 10, in descending order, were Nepal, Cameroon, Mali, Bangladesh, Namibia, Ethiopia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe and Yemen.

Ranking better then the Philippines in Asia and the Pacific were New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and China.

Those placed lower than the Philippines were India, Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh.

The Philippines saw some of its better scores in the “Impact” sub-index, ranking 32nd globally with a score of 48.37. Under this category, the country ranked 26th (with a score of 58.95) in social impact, 27th (48.98) in economic impact, and 37th (33.56) in political impact.

The country ranked 33rd, with a score of 39.39, in “The Web” sub-index. In this category, it placed 32nd with a score of 34.64 in terms of Web use and 35th with a 39.61 mark in Web content.

It also ranked 33rd, with a score of 48.26, in the “Readiness” sub-index. Here the country ranked 30th, with a score 51.12, in terms of institutional infrastructure and 39th with a 47.41 mark in communications infrastructure.

The study also noted that while the overall index and the impact sub-index were generally “highly correlated” with gross domestic product per capita, the Philippines, together with India, Kenya and New Zealand, “seemed to outperform” in this correlation.

“We hope that the Index will deepen and broaden our understanding of the impact of this most powerful tool on humanity,” the World Wide Web Foundation said in the study.

“We believe that if access to the Web increases dramatically, there will be significant social development and greater political interpretation among the billions of people who currently have no voice,” it added.

“This year’s Index aims to establish a baseline to help policy-makers, international organizations, nongovernment organizations, investors and interested stakeholders identify some of the areas where investment in the Web could yield substantial positive impacts.”