Global Digital Economy Report - 2025

The Digital Economy comprises about 15 percent of world GDP in nominal terms, according to the World Bank. This amounts to about $16 trillion of approximately $108 trillion in 2024. This report examines the foundation of the global Digital Economy and forecasts its trajectory of growth and development, along with shortfalls and necessities in 2025 and beyond.

The report’s objective is to capture the essential use and trends of the digital infrastructure and related technology that’s used to build Digital Economies throughout the world. Data and insights come from IDCA’s worldwide research, and survey activities.

The report was prepared within the context of current world economic conditions. It renders evaluations on key technologies and issues of concern to the IDCA community, and offers critical recommendations. It identifies the key areas of digital infrastructure necessary to building viable Digital Economies, and outlines the present state and disparities of digital infrastructure in the world.

Ultimately this report generates the Global Digital Readiness Index of Nations and a ranking of the world’s nations with respect to the state of their Digital Economy development. All nations have been evaluated against the vital ingredients of Digital Economies, and have been ranked based on their achievements in proportion to their global standing and resources available to them.

The ranking identifies whether a Digital Economy is in a Pre-, Early-Stage, Substantially Developed, or Highly Developed phase. A key to this analysis is that Digital Economies must be sustainable – a lack of sustainability impedes the path to a true Digital Economy.

1. Economic Momentum

There is technological and economic momentum propelling the nations of the world as 2025 begins. World economic growth in 2024 is estimated at 3.2 percent, remarkably similar to 2023, and expected to continue to grow at that rate in 2025, according to the World Bank, IMF, OECD, and IDCA Research. Economic growth in Asia in 2024 was above 5 percent, according to consensus research, and is projected to continue at a higher pace than the world as a whole.

2. AI’s Prominence

AI’s prominence become well-established in the world’s tech industry in 2024, and is expected to continue in 2025 and beyond. IDCA conducted several polls and surveys among industry professionals and global leaders to measure their interest in game-changing technologies and their effect on the growth of Digital Economies. The results are shown in Figure 3:

Follow-up interviews confirm that AI in all its modern guises consumes the thoughts and plans of enterprise IT and other large organizations throughout the world.

3. Economic and Technological Disparities

Gaping disparities remain in the world, starting with per capita income. On a nominal basis, income varies by about 50X between the lowest- and highest-income countries. The lowest 20 nations by income reach only 8 percent of the world average per-person income, while the highest 20 generate as much as 5X the world average.