Out of 18 cities, 10 have been ranked as the most digitally-dependent, based on nine specific indicators of digital infrastructure maturity
By selecting and analyzing key indicators of digital dependency such as internet accessibility, smart device prevalence and levels of urban digital integration of 18 cities around the world*, an email verification platform has announced its own curated list of 10 “most digitally dependent cities”.
Out of the 18 places, Dubai has been ranked as the most digitally-dependent city, with a score of 79.
Following this is Shanghai, with a score of 71 and also scoring highest in pollution monitoring (89.7), digitized transport infrastructure (87.5), and online traffic information (88.1). The city’s maintenance problem reporting system scored 84.5, exceeding Dubai’s by 8%.
Other top digitally-dependent cities
The remaining eight cities (and their survey criteria scores) are:
- Seoul ranks third, scoring 70. With the 19th global internet speed rank, the city chalked up strong scores in public Wi-Fi availability and CCTV coverage, while its digital nomad ranking of 4.47 surpasses both Dubai’s 4.01 and Shanghai’s 3.92.
- With a score of 66, Beijing comes in fourth. The city’s pollution monitoring systems score was 86.5, second only to Shanghai’s, and a digital transport infrastructure score was 83.7.
- In fifth spot is Singapore. The city-state scored highest in level of CCTV coverage (80.8) and pollution monitoring (62), outperforming those of Dubai. Its transport infrastructure score of 63.2 trailed those of the preceding four cities but had strong availability of public Wi-Fi access.
- Ranking sixth is Taiwan, scoring 60.9.
- In seventh place is Amsterdam with a score of 55. The city has one of the highest digital nomad rankings by one benchmark, at 5.11, higher than that of all Asian cities in the top six of the list. Amsterdam scored the highest for reliable infrastructure among the European cities in the list.
- Barcelona ranks eighth with a score of 53 and the highest digital nomad ranking of 5.82 among all the top 10 cities. It scores lower for public service digitalization, with CCTV coverage at 41.2 and pollution monitoring at 41.
- New York City ranks ninth in the list, with a score of 52 and balanced scores across all nine criteria. It scores nearly double the CCTV coverage scores of Amsterdam (57.2 vs. 35.4), but lags behind Barcelona in online transport efficiency by 7%.
- Rounding out the bottom is Stockholm with a score of 51. The city stands out with strong internet connectivity, and the highest digitized transport infrastructure score among European cities in the list at 70, though its pollution monitoring score of 57.8 falls below those of the top 10 average.
According to Brian Minick, Chief Operating Officer, ZeroBounce, the firm that commissioned the data analysis: “It’s fascinating to see the data ranking the cities with the strongest digital infrastructure around the world.”
*with rankings based on nine digital infrastructure aspects such as internet speed, public Wi-Fi availability, online maintenance reporting systems, level of CCTV coverage, level of use of pollution monitoring applications, digital healthcare access, availability of smart parking solutions/real-time traffic information systems, level of transportation infrastructure digitalization, and specific digital nomad ranking.
