14 DAY TRIAL // The Web Index ranks countries of the world by a series of freedoms measuring the World Wide Web’s contribution to development and human rights globally. This year, Sweden takes the top spot of the list.
First released in 2012, this year’s index adds twenty more countries, bringing up the number to 81 countries getting ranked by several criteria. Scores are given in the areas of access, freedom and openness, relevant content and empowerment the people get from the Internet.
As mentioned, Sweden takes the top position, with a score of 94.4 in universal access, 92.2 in impact and empowerment, 90.1 in relevant content and 86.1 in freedom openness.
Second comes Norway, while the UK comes in third. The United States dropped two spots from last year’s list, receiving the lowest score when it comes to the freedom of the Internet.
New Zealand wraps up the top five. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, France and the Republic of Korea come in next.
By comparison, the last country on the list is Yemen. The universal access score is of a mere 3.2, while the score for impact and empowerment is of 3.7. The scores for relevant content and freedom on the Internet are a little higher, but not by much, namely 7.0 and 7.7 respectively.
Judging by the individual scores, Iceland ranks highest when it comes to access to the Internet, while the UK comes first in relevant content. Norway, the country taking up the second spot, has the most freedom when it comes to the Internet, while citizens in the United States are the most empowered by their access to the online world.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web, is the one who did the inaugural speech, during which he criticized the Internet surveillance intelligence agencies delve into in the US and UK.