Catalonia reaffirms an outstanding degree of digitalisation and continues to make progress in the digital transformation of society and the economy. This is the main conclusion of the fourth edition of the composite digital economy and society index DESI in Catalonia 2022, calculated for Catalonia using European Commission methodology. Promoted by the Government of Catalonia and produced by the Cercle Tecnològic de Catalunya, the report indicates that Catalonia continues, for the fourth consecutive year, in fifth position as a digitally advanced country and a leader in Europe. With a degree of digitalisation of 63.96%, 11.69 points higher than the EU average (52.27%), it maintains, together with the Nordic group formed by Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands, the leadership in digital development in Europe.

As in the previous edition, the structure of DESI in Catalonia 2022 is made up of 4 dimensions (Human Capital, Connectivity, Digital Technology Integration and Digital Public Services), 10 sub-dimensions and 33 indicators.

Specifically, in 2022 Catalonia progressed favourably in all dimensions, although this was not always reflected in a better relative position in the 27 EU Member States as a whole: it improved 5.69 points in the overall index and grew in all sub-dimensions: Human Capital (+0.51 points), Connectivity (+13.63 points), Digital Technology Integration (+3.55 points) and Digital Public Services (+5.09 points). In terms of positions, Catalonia lost one position in Human Capital, gained one position in Connectivity and another in Digital Technology Integration, and maintained its fourth position in Digital Public Services.

In terms of Human Capital, the skills of Internet users continued to improve, while the results for performance in advanced and developmental skills were more modest. ICT skills and employment data (especially among women) were slightly above the European average, but still have some way to go.

Connectivity continued to be a strong point and the basis of Catalonia's digitisation and was the dimension in which it obtained the best position, second only to Denmark and ahead of the Netherlands. It is worth highlighting the result for fixed broadband, which led the ranking of EU states, and the result for fixed broadband deployment, which was ranked in second place behind Hungary.

In Digital Technology Integration, Catalonia moved from eighth position in 2021 to seventh position in 2022, ahead of Ireland. In general, Catalan companies displayed a good level of digitisation, although the growth in the percentage of e-commerce turnover in small and medium-sized companies has stopped, both nationally and internationally.

In Digital Public Services, Catalonia maintained fourth position. The level of digitisation of public administration in Catalonia is increasing year on year, but there is still room for improvement in the positions of users of eGovernment and open data in Catalonia.

About DESI in Catalonia

To monitor Europe's overall digital performance and track the progress of EU states' digital competitiveness, the European Commission created the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which has established itself as the European benchmark for comparing countries' digital progress.

This was the fourth time that the DESI results calculated for Catalonia in accordance with the EC methodology were presented, thanks to the collaboration between the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Cercle Tecnològic. Most of the data were obtained from the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (Idescat) and the Directorate General for Transparency, Open Data and Collaboration of the Ministry for Foreign Action and European Union.