THE OECD latest report on Digital Economy notes that the ICT sector performed strongly in 2023, with an average growth rate of 7.6%. In many OECD countries, 2023 was a record year for ICT sector growth.

Ten countries had growth rates above 9%: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. In Belgium and the United Kingdom, ICT sector growth exceeded 11%. Increased demand for ICT products and services following COVID-19 may partially explain the strong performance in 2023.

Between 2013 and 2023, all OECD countries had positive ICT sector growth rates on average. However, a substantial gap (10 percentage points) separates the economies with top and bottom ICT sector performance.

In 2011, the average growth rate of the fourth quartile (top 25%) of OECD countries was 13 times higher than the average growth of the first quartile (bottom 25%). In 2023, the average growth of the fourth quartile was only twice as high as the average growth of the first quartile. Disparities in ICT sector growth across OECD countries sectors have thus decreased considerably. This is explained both by an increase in the average growth rates in the first quartile and a decrease in the fourth quartile.