Country watch: Vietnam

Date: 27.04.2004

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General information

:: IMF - Vietnam :: ADB - Vietnam :: General information :: Ministry of Foreign Affairs ::

:: Vienam News :: Vietnam Economic Times :: Vietnam online ::

Doing business

:: Business in Vietnam :: Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry ::

The IT sector

Where does Vietnam stand on the global IT map?

Information Society Index: The Information Society Index introduced by IDC/World Times is based on 23 variables in four categories: computer, Internet, information and society infrastructure facilities. The top ten countries having the most advanced society in the rankings announced in June 2003 were Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United States, Austria and Canada, in that order. IDC also announced ten countries at the bottom of the list, namely, Bulgaria, Egypt, Romania, Thailand, the Philippines, Turkey, China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

This is the first year Vietnam was given an ISI ranking together with 53 other countries and made the bottom of the list. In previous years of 2001 and 2002, the Index had 55 countries but did not include Vietnam.

Networked Readiness Index: The World Economic Forum ranked 82 countries in its Global IT Report in 2003 (there were 75 countries in 2002). The index was based on such criteria as network use (Internet and mobile phone penetration) and enabling factors (Internet accessibility, policies, networked society and economy). Vietnam was not among the Bottom Ten.

In 2002-2003, Vietnam had jumped ahead 10 countries that ranked before it in 2001-2002 and was ranked 71/82 with a score of 2.96 (in 2001-2002, Vietnam was ranked 74/75 with a score of 2.42).

E-Readiness - EIU&IBM Index: This is the ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit (part of The Economist magazine), based on such criteria as the level of networking, legal and policy environment, social and cultural infrastructure and supporting electronic services. In the E-Readiness list announced in June 2003, Vietnam was ranked 56th out of 60 countries (averaging 2.91 points). This was also Vietnam’s ranking in 2002 (announced in July 2002); however, Vietnam’s score in 2002 was higher at 2.96. Vietnam’s ranking in 2001 (announced in May 2001) was 58th out of 60 countries (2.76 points)

ITU ranking: Every year, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) issues a ranking of 196 countries. This ranking has the biggest number of countries and is based on indicators like the number of fixed telephone lines, mobile phones, computers and Internet users.

Vietnam’s ranking among 196 countries was as follows:

From this list, we can see that, compared to the average growth rate of the world, Vietnam made some progress in the number of telephone lines and Internet users while its ranking in the number of personal computers almost stood still and had been bypassed by a number of countries as regard to the number of mobile phones. However, Vietnam still fares better than 50-70 other countries.

E-Government Index:This index was introduced by the United Nations Division for Public Economics and Public Administration (UNDPEPA) and the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) in October 2001. It was based on indicators like online presence on the Internet, the development of telecommunications infrastructure and Human Capital Capacity. Out of 169 countries, the three top positions belonged to the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Vietnam’s score was 1.10/3.25, with a ranking of 90/169.

If we group countries into four groups based on their scores (the first group with 36 countries had the highest scores, the second group, 26 countries, had average scores, the third group, 36 countries, had minimum scores and the fourth group with 35 countries had the worse scores), Vietnam did not fall into the fourth group and was placed in the third group, having the minimum level of E-Government. If we classify countries according to the level of E-Government development (level 1 – Seamless without any single country attaining this level, level 2 – Transaction, with 17 countries, level 3 – Interactive, 55 countries, level 4 – Enhanced, 65 countries and level 5 – Emerging with 32 countries), Vietnam was placed in level 4, which means it had moved from the starting point and was enhancing capacity.

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