Assessing digital divide in European transition economies: The application of multidimensional scaling to ICT-related data

Abstract

As digitalisation has become increasingly crucial for economic growth, competitiveness and sustainable development, digital development and digital transformation have been of concern in the European Union for the last decades. The study aims to analyse the digital divide and classify the NUTS-2 regions of Central and South-East European transition economies according to similar digitalisation levels between 2016 and 2021. After setting out the necessary terminological background on digital divide and providing an overview on the key areas of action to promote digital development and transition in the EU, a database of seven ICT-related indicators from Eurostat was compiled for 49 regions and multidimensional scaling was applied for exploring the similarities and differences between them. An important conclusion is that there is still a sharp divide among the regions of the European transition economies. It is also found that regions belonging to the same country are more similar than different, and digitalisation characteristics have not changed in relative terms. The study may contribute to the deeper understanding, ongoing discussion, and fruitful debate of the situation of digitalisation on both European and sub-national levels.