"'Internet Powerhouse' Is a Thing of the Past... South Korea's 'Digital Life Index' Plummets from 2nd to 20th Place"

Japan, Once Called the Galapagos, Falls to 16th Place
Drops from 1st to 64th in 'Internet Quality' Rankings

According to a global digitalization index compiled by Surfshark, a Netherlands-based international cybersecurity company, South Korea's ranking has plummeted from 2nd place to 20th place in just two years. In particular, it was revealed that South Korea fell behind Japan, which had previously been rated much lower in terms of internet communication networks and e-government development, raising concerns that South Korea's former reputation as an internet powerhouse is fading.

On the 27th (local time), Surfshark released the '2023 Digital Quality of Life (DQL)' index, which surveyed 121 countries worldwide. In this index, which quantifies and compares the convenience, marketability, and security of each country's internet environment, South Korea ranked 20th overall. This marks a drop of 18 places from 2nd place in 2021.

Japan, which had been self-mockingly called 'Galapagos' during the 2019 COVID-19 pandemic due to insufficient computerization, ranked 16th, four places higher than South Korea. The country that ranked first overall was France, which had been ranked 7th, five places below South Korea in 2021, but rose to 1st place.

The biggest factor in South Korea's significant drop in ranking was the 'Internet Quality' ranking. In this category, South Korea fell sharply from 1st place worldwide in 2021 to 64th place this year. Particularly, the rankings for internet stability within the internet quality index dropped dramatically, with mobile stability falling from 13th to 92nd place, and PC stability from 70th to 118th place, driving the overall decline.

The 'Internet Affordability' index, which ranked 10th in 2021, also fell to 31st place, while the 'Electronic Security' index improved slightly from 32nd to 31st place.

Notably, all countries ranked 1st through 9th in this survey were European nations. Surfshark evaluated that "Europe is leading the quality of digital life." The main reason is analyzed to be the significant increase in telecommunications infrastructure investment before and after COVID-19. Among non-European countries, only Singapore entered the top 10, ranking 10th.