Central and Eastern European countries place in the second half of the ranking. The Czech Republic fares the best and is followed by Slovenia and Poland, while Romania, Serbia and Ukraine have the least connected populations. Romania, Slovakia and Hungary see the most dynamic evolutions, each climbing three spots.
The GfK Connected Consumer Index enables a quick comparison of how ‘connected’ the different regions and countries are per capita, giving trends over the last 5 years and a forecast for the current year. The index shows which countries have the world’s most connected consumers, both overall and in detail across each of eleven different device types (smartphone, tablet, mobile PC, desktop PC, wearables, smart TV, TV set-top box, videogame console, e-reader, connected car and smart home), together with trends over the last five years.
Moreover, it allows businesses to compare how connected the individual countries and regions are, in order to spot market opportunities across a range of industries. This includes areas stretching from digiital device sales and content consumption to expansion of traditional technology into health and media and beyond.
Globally, the GfK Connected Consumer Index ranking for the last two years shows Hong Kong and North America (USA, Canada and Mexico) hold steady as having the world’s top two most highly connected populations. However, people in the United Arab Emirates are fast closing in on that lead, jumping from eighth place in 2015 to a forecasted third place this year. Similarly, Switzerland has overtaken Denmark and Sweden to move up from tenth place last year to a forecasted eighth place this year.