GDP Impact on the Digital Economy in European Union Countries

Abstract

This article explores issues relating to the development of the digital economy in the countries of the European Union. Its aim is to assess the impact of a country’s GDP on its DESI index. In this study, the research problem involves finding answers to the following questions: 1) Why does the development of the digital economy in different EU countries show such a substantial variation? 2) Which DESI index indicators have the greatest impact on its final score? 3) Does the overall development of the domestic economy have an impact on the development of its information society? The research conducted with these goals in mind warrants the conclusion that the pace of development of the digital economy in the less developed EU countries is higher than in the leader countries. Furthermore, it has been found that the indicators within the “4 Digital public services” and “1 Human capital” dimensions have the greatest impact on the DESI index. The direct influence of GDP per capita on the DESI index has been demonstrated experimentally. In contrast, the assumption that the growth rate of GDP and the share of the ICT sector in GDP correlates with the development of the digital economy and information society has not been confirmed.