Four Nordic countries are the Web-savviest nations in the world and, together with the United Kingdom, pushed the United States out of the top five, a survey found on Monday.
Denmark was more aggressive than any other country in taking advantage of the Internet, according to research carried out by U.S. computer company International Business Machines and the intelligence unit of British magazine The Economist.
Second last year, Denmark snatched Sweden's pole position after establishing a government portal Web site which pulls together five ministries and 24 other organisations where companies can access services.
"Denmark has a very active government policy to reduce the administrative burden on companies," said Peter Korsten, European director at IBM's Institute for Business Value.
The differences were small between the top eight, which all scored more than eight points as a result of plentiful, cheap Internet connections, software and technical support, legal and government frameworks and populations keen to spend time on the Net.
Britain ranked second, Sweden dropped to third place, while Norway and Finland ended fourth and fifth respectively.
"Scandinavia is remarkable for the way in which citizens have incorporated Internet technology into their daily lives, completely altering how they work, shop, and communicate with officials," the report said, while praising early government backing of nationwide Internet infrastructure.
U.S. drops to sixth
The United States dropped to sixth place from a shared third place despite having the world's best social and cultural environment for the Internet, because the percentage of broadband connections was falling behind other nations.
Countries such as Japan (25th place), Russia (55), Peru (47) and Australia (12) all fell several places.
"It is not a case of decline, but rather of stagnation or slow development compared with more aggressive e-leaders," the report said.
South Korea continued its ascent, grabbing the 14th place, up from No. 21 two years ago. Singapore jumped to seventh place from No. 12 last year and Hong Kong climbed one spot to No. 9.
These places all have high broadband Internet penetration and are eager to move government and business on-line, unlike other parts of Asia where banks are slow to move to the Web.
Of the 64 countries surveyed, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan remained at the bottom of the list with just 2.43 and 2.60 points respectively out of a possible 10.
