Morocco ranked 76th in the 2024 Network Readiness Index, improving its position from the previous year. While it excelled in technology and people pillars, it lagged behind in impact and governance. Morocco has ranked 76th in the 2024 edition of the Network Readiness Index (NRI), which assesses 133 economies' access to and use of information and communications technology (ICT). The North African kingdom moved up one position compared to last year's edition, in which it ranked 77th out of 134. Published by the independent, nonpartisan research and educational institute Portulans Institute and Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, the NRI assigns scores on a scale from 0 to 100. The global ranking is topped for the third consecutive year by the United States, followed by Singapore, Finland, and Sweden. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Morocco is positioned 8th, behind the United Arab Emirates (28th), Saudi Arabia (35th), Qatar (38th), Oman (50th), Bahrain (51st), Kuwait (67th), and Jordan (74th), and ahead of Iran (79th), Egypt (85th), Tunisia (96th), and Algeria (100th). The index is based on four main pillars: Technology, People, Governance, and Impact. Each pillar comprises three sub-pillars and a further 54 variables. Morocco advances in technology and people pillars Morocco ranked the highest in the Technology pillar, which evaluates the technological infrastructure crucial for a country's engagement in the global economy, and the People pillar, which assesses the application of ICT across three facets: individuals, enterprises, and public sectors, ranking 64th and 72nd, respectively. «The Arab States include four economies with strong digital performances, with Morocco and Jordan exceeding expectations in Technology and People», the authors of the report wrote, with the other two Arab countries being Egypt and Tunisia. Morocco performed the worst in the Impact pillar, which looks at how the networked economy translates into holistic growth and societal enhancement, ranking 99th out of 133 countries. Morocco ranked 83rd in Governance, which assesses how economies create rules and systems to keep a network safe and working well. The NRI 2024 reveals a «complex global digital landscape where significant disparities exist between regions and development levels», stressing that the United States «leads with exceptional performance across technology adoption and innovation metrics, particularly excelling in areas like AI scientific publications, VC deals in AI, and digital business transformation». Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Yemen are at the bottom of the 2024 NRI ranking. «By working together, governments, businesses, and civil society can create robust frameworks of governance, stability, and trust that enable technology to reach its full potential in enhancing social and economic well-being», emphasized Professor Soumitra Dutta, Co-founder and President of Portulans Institute, Co-editor of the NRI, and Dean of Saïd Business School.
