Greece rises two places to 26th in EU's Digital Economy and Society Index in 2019

Greece rose two places to rank 26th out of 28 European Union countries in the European Commission's Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) released on Tuesday. Greece had slipped to 28th place in 2018, from 26th in 2017.

Despite improving at a faster-than-average rate for the EU as a whole, scoring 38 points in 2019 from 34.9 points in 2018 and 33.1 points in 2017, Greece continues to lag significantly behind most of its EU partners in a number of areas in terms of digital competitiveness.

Greece has increased the level of digital skills of its human capital, with the number of IT and communications professionals and graduates rising, as well as improving the e-government services on offer, though it still remains well below the EU average in this area.

In terms of connectivity, the transition to broadband and very high capacity networks is proceeding at a much slower pace than in other EU countries, with significant delays in projects and the absorption of EU funding.

The number of internet users is increasing but adoption of digital technology by businesses is slow, except in the use of big data, which exceeds the EU average.

Greece has one of the best scores for improvement in integrating digital technology, which rose 7.4 points in comparison with 2018 but ranks last for connectivity, with prices remaining high compared with other EU countries.