ICT Development Index 2023: Egypt starts above global and Arab averages, with a wide connectivity-pillar gap

A new score-based baseline for universal and meaningful connectivity

Executive summary

• The 2023 edition covered 169 economies and mainly reflects 2021 data, with older or estimated observations where identified.
• Egypt scored 75.8 out of 100; ITU publishes country scores but deliberately does not publish an ordinal country ranking.
• Egypt’s universal-connectivity pillar was 64.5, compared with 87.1 for meaningful connectivity.
• Egypt stood 3.0 points from the world average, 1.3 from the Arab States average and 13.8 from the lower-middle-income average.
• The policy priority is to convert network availability and affordability into universal adoption, reliable use and productive digital participation.
• A national policy reading must add subnational inclusion, speed, reliability, skills, safety and business-use evidence that IDI does not measure.
• Trend claims should remain within the 2023–2026 methodology cycle and respect changing coverage and data vintages.

Release snapshot

What the IDI measures—and what it does not

The ICT Development Index assesses the extent to which connectivity is universal and meaningful. “Universal” asks whether people and households are connected. “Meaningful” asks whether connectivity is supported by infrastructure, affordability and device access sufficient to enable useful online participation.

This is directly relevant to competitiveness: connectivity shapes firms’ access to markets, digital services, skills, finance, supply chains and public administration. Yet IDI is not a complete digital-economy or competitiveness index. It omits important dimensions such as digital skills, safety, speed, reliability, service quality and many forms of productive business use.

Methodology in brief

• Ten indicators are normalized to a 0–100 scale using thresholds and goalposts.
• The universal-connectivity pillar contains three indicators, each with one-third weight inside the pillar.
• The meaningful-connectivity pillar contains six components, one of which combines the 3G and 4G/LTE coverage sub-indicators.
• Each pillar contributes 50% of the overall IDI; the final score is their arithmetic mean.
• Official national observations are preferred, but ITU estimates or imputations are used for some missing values under stated rules.
• The 2023 results primarily assess 2021; individual observations may be older or estimated and are marked in the dataset.
• Scores from 2023 through 2026 use the same methodology; 2017 and earlier results are not comparable.
• Common-sample comparisons are preferable when edition coverage changes.

Global and regional signals

• The first edition after a six-year publication hiatus introduced a new methodology and covered 169 economies.
• The global average was 72.8 out of 100; published scores ranged from 20.0 to 98.2.
• The Arab States average was 74.5, but this average concealed very wide internal disparities.
• The 2023 edition was a baseline snapshot; it could not be compared with the 2017 and earlier IDI methodology.

These aggregates are useful reference points, not causal explanations. Regional and income-group averages conceal wide internal variation, and Egypt’s policy priorities must be derived from its components and domestic evidence.

Egypt lens

• Egypt’s IDI score was 75.8, 3.0 points above the global average and 1.3 points above the Arab States average.
• The universal connectivity pillar scored 64.5, compared with 87.1 for meaningful connectivity—a 22.6-point gap.
• Mobile-broadband subscriptions and traffic were weaker normalized components than network coverage and affordability.
• Several Egyptian input values were lagged or estimated, so this edition is best treated as a diagnostic baseline rather than a precise current-state reading.

Egypt’s official component values

Symbols follow the official dataset: † indicates an ITU estimate and ‡ a lagged value. Lower values for the two affordability baskets represent better affordability; all other raw indicators generally improve as the value rises.

Time-series context under the 2023 methodology

This is the first edition under the new methodology and therefore serves as the baseline. It must not be joined to the 2017 and earlier IDI series.

Competitiveness implications

• Adoption is the central gap. Egypt’s meaningful-connectivity score is much stronger than its universal-connectivity score, indicating that available networks and affordability do not automatically translate into universal use.
• National averages are insufficient. Digital inclusion constraints can be concentrated by geography, income, gender, age or disability even when the national score is improving.
• Data quality affects policy quality. Estimated or lagged household-use values weaken the ability to target investment and evaluate reform.
• Connectivity quality matters for firms. Business productivity depends on speed, reliability, latency, cybersecurity and digital capabilities that sit partly outside IDI.
• The composite must be drilled down. Policy should target component gaps and outcomes rather than pursue the overall score as an end in itself.

Policy Brief — Integrated

Policy question: How can Egypt close the universal-connectivity and evidence gaps while protecting affordability and raising the quality and productive use of connectivity?

ENCC position

• ENCC reads the IDI as a score-based diagnostic, not as a country ranking.
• Egypt’s progress is positive, but the persistent gap between the two pillars makes universal adoption and inclusion the priority.
• Statistical capacity and transparent metadata are part of the country’s competitiveness infrastructure.
• The IDI should be complemented by indicators for speed, reliability, skills, safety, business adoption and subnational distribution.
• Future editions should be tracked using common-sample and source-vintage controls.

What ENCC cannot claim: a global or regional rank; causality from the composite score; full achievement of universal and meaningful connectivity; equality of access inside Egypt; or performance in dimensions omitted by the IDI.

Risk and mitigation

Monitoring indicators

• IDI score and both pillar scores, with edition and reference year.
• Individuals using the Internet, disaggregated by governorate, gender, age, income and disability.
• Households with Internet access at home, using current official survey data.
• Active mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.
• 3G and 4G/LTE population coverage supplemented by quality-of-service measures.
• Mobile- and fixed-broadband traffic per subscription.
• Mobile data/voice and fixed-broadband baskets as a percentage of GNI per capita.
• Device ownership and smartphone access by income group.
• Share of published connectivity indicators that are current official observations rather than estimates.
• Complementary measures for speed, reliability, skills, safety and productive business use.

Baselines should be taken from the official edition and the corresponding national source. No target is invented here; targets should be adopted through the responsible national process and published with their definitions and update calendar.

Data notes and limitations

• 19% of the 1,690 indicator values were estimated or imputed.
• The edition mainly reflects 2021 data and may use older observations or estimates where indicated.
• Coverage changes across editions; world and group comparisons should use the common economy sample when the report provides it.
• IDI scores are not country ranks, and ENCC has not derived ranks from the dataset.
• The composite provides only a partial picture and must be supplemented by quality, skills, safety, business-use and disaggregated inclusion data.
• The relationship between connectivity and income is strong but bidirectional; the index alone does not establish causality.
• The 2023–2026 methodology is not comparable with the 2017 and earlier IDI methodology.

Official sources

• ITU — ICT Development Index 2023 landing page
• ITU — ICT Development Index 2023 report
• ITU — ICT Development Index 2023 original dataset
• ITU — IDI methodology, history and revision process
• ITU DataHub — IDI dashboard

Egyptian National Competitiveness Council (ENCC)
This reading distinguishes ITU’s published results from ENCC’s policy interpretation and recommendations.