Sir Tim Berners-Lee 2012 Web Index Ranks UK 3rd Best in the World

The World Wide Web Foundation, a non-profit organization that was established by WWW inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and aims to make the internet available to everybody, has today release its 2012 Web Index that uses 80 indicators to rank countries by broadband access, affordability and policy environment etc.

According to the BBC, the new index found that only 1 in 3 people around the world use the web (falling to 1 in 6 for Africa). It also claimed that two of the biggest barriers to web access were the high cost of broadband, especially outside of developed countries, and the growth of state supported online censorship (30% of countries faced moderate to severe government restrictions).

Fig.1 2012 Web Index (Dark Blue/Green Colours = Better Web Access)

The 2012 Web Index Top 10 Countries (Score out of 100)
1. Sweden (100)
2. United States (97.31)
3. United Kingdom (93.83)
4. Canada (93.42)
5. Finland (91.88)
6. Switzerland (90.49)
7. New Zealand (89.15)
8. Australia (88.44)
9. Norway (87.76)
10. Ireland (87.42)

The 2012 Web Index Bottom 10 Countries
1. Nepal (18.37)
2. Cameroon (15.1)
3. Mali (13.67)
4. Bangladesh (13.6)
5. Namibia (13.57)
6. Ethiopia (10.89)
7. Benin (10.43)
8. Burkino Faso (8.51)
9. Zimbabwe (1.94)
10. Yemen (0)

It’s perhaps easy to forget that the UK, despite its far from perfect broadband network and growing concerns over government censorship / internet restrictions, still manages to perform quite well on the world stage; at least it does according to this study.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee said:

“By shining a light on the barriers to web for everyone, the index is a powerful tool that will empower individuals, government and organisations to improve their societies. [But] the web is a global conversation. Growing suppression of free speech, both online and offline, is possibly the single biggest challenge to the future of the web.”

The full report can be found at the link below.

The 2012 Web Index
http://thewebindex.org/