Relationship of EU digital DESI 2020 indicators with macroeconomic data

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine the five principal dimensions of the 2020 edition of the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) of the European Union, as well as two macroeconomic indicators (AIC [actual individual consumption] and GDP per capita), employing multivariate statistical techniques. The analysis is divided into two parts: First, the linear relationships between variables are investigated using simple Pearson and canonical correlation analysis, regression analysis, and factor analysis. These methods allow us to address the question of how and to what extent the advancement of digital transformation and its constituent dimensions are shaped by economic growth. Subsequently, the EU Member States are categorized based on their digital and economic development through cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling, which identifies three distinct groups of EU countries. The first group encompasses the less developed, predominantly Central and Eastern and Southern European countries, the second comprises the developed Western and Northern European countries, and the third consists of the two leading countries.