Approach to prioritisation of EU countries regarding digital economy

Abstract

The digital economy is gaining more attention as a significant part of services moved to the online environment, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The transition to the digital economy is inevitable; hence it is necessary to find out where the countries are now and then develop the digital economy strategy. Consequently, the current study aims at prioritisation of the EU countries regarding the digital economy level. In the current paper for digital economy level measurement, three Digital Economy and Society Index’s dimensions directly linked to the digital economy are used. They are as follows: Use of Internet Services, Integration of Digital Technology and Digital Public Services. For prioritisation, the multicriteria decisionmaking method VIKOR was employed. The results revealed that in terms of the “Use of Internet Services” dimension, the three leading countries are Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands; in terms of “Integration of Digital Technology” – Ireland, Belgium, and the Netherlands; in terms of “Digital Public Services” – Spain, Finland, and Latvia.