The IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking has placed the Netherlands as seventh in the world, beating China, Germany, and the United Kingdom. 

IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2020

For the fifth year in a row, IMD has measured the capacity and readiness of 63 economies to adopt and explore digital technologies as a driving force for economic transformation in business, government, and society. 

A total of 52 different criteria are used to analyse each country’s economy, with these criteria split into the three main categories which define digital competitiveness:

• Knowledge - Know-how necessary to discover, understand and build new technologies
• Technology - Overall context that enables the development of digital technologies
• Future readiness - Level of country preparedness to exploit digital transformation

By using a combination of hard data and survey data, IMD analyses each economy and ranks it. 

IMD says 2020’s rankings are similar to last year, however, observe that there have been three clear trends that stand out across all well-performing economies: efficient use of digital talent, a reflection of having the technological infrastructure in place, and using the technology available. 

The Netherlands a top 10 country for digital competitiveness

While the Netherlands may have dropped a place in 2020, the country holds on to its spot in the top 10 for the fifth consecutive year. This year, it received an overall score of 92,567 out of 100. 

The Netherlands’ slightly lower ranking is a result of drops in all three categories. According to the report, the management of cities, availability of digital / technological skills, and total public expenditure on education led to a drop in the knowledge category, while a decline in the effectiveness of immigration laws and the efficiency of the banking and financial services resulted in a lower score for technology. Lastly, under the future readiness category, e-participation, the agility of companies, and their use of big data and analytics all dropped. 

IMD recognises the country’s top strengths as its credit rating, international experience, venture capital, knowledge transfer, and entrepreneurial fear of failure. 

The world’s most digitally competitive countries

IMD's top 10 most digitally competitive countries are:

1. United States - 100
2. Singapore - 98,052
3. Denmark - 96,013
4. Sweden - 95,146
5. Hong Kong - 94,451
6. Switzerland - 93,693
7. The Netherlands - 92,567
8. South Korea - 92,252
9. Norway - 92,170
10. Finland - 91,130

For a full breakdown of the rankings for each of the 63 countries analysed, visit the IMD website.