© The Economist Group 2022
Digital Cities Index 2022
Making digital work for cities: A global benchmark of urban technology
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have deployed 5G, whether in pilots and
testing or for commercial use. Urban 5G has
to date focused on site-specific initiatives like
industrial facilities, sporting events, smart
districts and critical transport infrastructures
such as ports. To be truly transformational
in areas like autonomous transport, 5G
needs to be ubiquitous and comprehensive,
which will require greater private sector
investment, new partnership models between
telecommunications companies and an
enabling regulatory environment.
Services
• E-government service leaders are found
in both the high and emerging income
categories. Singapore leads the world in
e-government services for residents and
businesses due to a mobile digital national
ID card programme and a comprehensive
e-government service portal for residents
and businesses. New Delhi ranks third in
e-government services for residents and
businesses, due in part to Aadhaar, the
country’s groundbreaking national digital
identity scheme, as well as eorts beyond the
national ID scheme, with a major increase
in digital engagement during the pandemic.
India’s severe covid-19 crisis was likely a
stimulus for governments and citizens
to explore ways of avoiding crowds and
transacting online.
• Cities are embracing the health benefits
of digital. The DCI measures city healthcare
performance across three indicators: the
presence and adoption of telehealth and
telemedicine; electronic health records; and
pandemic-related applications. The majority
of cities scored above 75, indicating a broad-
based application of digital health tools to
support urban wellbeing. The pandemic
has been a significant catalyst, with the vast
majority of cities having pandemic-related
apps in place and available for testing and
contact tracing. Urban health institutions
are also using telehealth to improve citizen
wellbeing, especially for non-communicable
diseases such as diabetes requiring ongoing
monitoring, and for lifestyle tracking,
awareness-raising and community-building
around healthy lifestyles.
• Asian cities dominate in digital finance.
Asia is home to five out of the top ten cities in
the DCI, with Beijing, Seoul and Hong Kong the
top three. This outperformance reflects Asia’s
lead in digital payments and is due in part to
the density of population and transactions in
these cities. China and India are world leaders
in digital finance and payment infrastructure
innovation in terms of both supportive
government regulation and private sector
innovation, which in turn enable more digital
payments in their respective cities, including
for urban services such as public transport.
Culture
• Digital skills levels and satisfaction with
e-government portals are significantly
higher in emerging-market cities,
especially in Asia. The Economist Impact
survey reveals that self-reported digital skills—
from basic functional skills to more advanced
competencies such as coding, troubleshooting
technical issues and mitigating cyber threats—
are highest in emerging-market cities, with
New Delhi, Dubai, Jakarta, Beijing, Mexico
City, Manila and Bangkok the top seven cities.
This likely reflects the greater gains that digital
platforms have for daily life in infrastructure-
poor geographies where citizens face more
constraints, such as a lack of access to bricks-
and-mortar banking services. Our survey also
found that trust in e-government is highest in
emerging-market cities in general and, on a
regional basis, in Asia. Urban-dwellers on the
continent have the highest levels of satisfaction
and trust in online services oered by their
government.
