Lithuania ranks 2nd in the world in e-security, Vilnius Mayor V.Benkunskas: this helps to attract talents to the Vilnius TechFusion ecosystem

Lithuania is the second most cyber-secure country in the world, second only to Belgium the lates data shows. Lithuania’s overall digital quality of life index has risen, and in the global rankings, Lithuania ranks thirteenth this year. The Digital Quality of Life Index, now in its 5th year, looks at the performance of 121 countries. Surfshark, a cyber security solutions company, conducted the research.

“Lithuania’s rapid development in the areas of cyber security, digital literacy and e-infrastructure is helping to attract much-needed tech talents to Lithuania, especially to the Vilnius TechFusion ecosystem. Next year Vilnius is expected to open Europe’s largest tech city worth €100 million, and in 2033 – a €3.7 billion technology park”, says Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas.

 

According to Gabriele Racaityte-Krasauske, Surfshark spokeswoman, the Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL) is being compiled for the 5th year in a row to stimulate discussion on where countries can improve in the digital space. “As we do every year, we have looked at five main categories to determine a country’s digital quality of life: internet affordability, internet quality, e-infrastructure, e-security and e-government services”, says Racaityte-Krasauske.

 

Lithuania is among the world leaders

Lithuania is ranked second in the e-security pillar category for the second year in a row, behind only Belgium. This shows that Lithuania is highly prepared to fight against cybercrime, and since it is a member of the EU and subject to the GDPR, the country has excellent data protection laws. However, Lithuania shares 2nd place in this category with Estonia, which has the same high score for security indicators.

 

In the overall Digital Quality of Life Index Lithuania scored 0.7 this year and ranked 13th in the world, ahead of much larger European countries like the United Kingdom, Italy and Norway. Lithuania also surpassed the United States, Japan and Oceania’s leader New Zealand.

 

Last year, Lithuania’s DQL Index was lower — 0.66 — but the country ranked 11th in the world. According to G. Racaityte-Krasauske, this means that not only Lithuania but also many other countries have seen their overall digital quality of life index grow rapidly year on year.

 

Lithuania’s internet quality is 22% higher than the global average

Compared to last year, mobile internet speed in Lithuania has increased by 44% and fixed internet speed grew by 20%. The country has risen from 37th to 23rd place in the overall internet quality ranking.

Fixed internet averages 175 Mbps in Lithuania. To put that into perspective, the world’s fastest fixed internet — Singapore’s — is 300 Mbps. Meanwhile, the slowest fixed internet in the world — Yemen’s — is 11 Mbps.

Mobile internet averages 96 Mbps. The fastest mobile internet — the UAE’s — is 310 Mbps, while the world’s slowest mobile internet — Venezuela’s — is 10 Mbps.

 

Mobile internet in Lithuania has become more affordable than last year

Lithuanians have to work for 1 hour 29 minutes a month to afford the cheapest fixed internet plan — almost 2.5 times longer than in 2022. Romania leads the way in fixed internet affordability this year, with the average Romanian only needing to work 18 minutes a month to get the cheapest fixed internet plan.

 

However, mobile internet in Lithuania is more affordable than last year — a middle-income Lithuanian needs to work for 31 minutes to get the cheapest plan. However, this is twice as much as in Luxembourg, where people have to work just 16 minutes a month to afford mobile internet.

 

Lithuania is 25th in e-infrastructure and 30th in e-government.

Advanced e-infrastructure makes it easy for people to use the internet for various daily activities, such as working, studying, shopping, etc. This pillar evaluates how high internet penetration is in a given country, as well as its network readiness (readiness to take advantage of Information and Communication Technologies). Lithuania’s internet penetration is high (98% — 10th in the world), and the country ranks 31st in network readiness.

 

The e-government pillar shows how advanced a government’s digital services are and the level of Artificial Intelligence (AI) readiness a country demonstrates. Lithuania’s e-government is above the global average.

 

The Digital Quality of Life Index is an annual study that ranks 121 countries by their digital wellbeing based on 5 core pillars. For the full study and more information, click here: https://surfshark.com/dql2023

 

Surfshark is a cybersecurity company focused on developing humanized privacy and security solutions. The Surfshark One suite includes one of the very few VPNs audited by independent security experts, an officially certified antivirus, a private search tool, and a data leak alert system. Surfshark is recognized as the Independent’s Editor’s Choice for Best Value VPN 2023. Visit our research hub at: surfshark.com/research