Data for 2020

Frontier Technology Readiness Index, 2020

2020, as UNCTAD’s 2025 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Frontier Technology Readiness Index, 2020 covers 171 countries on 6 measures. United States is highest, at 1.0000; South Sudan is lowest, at 0.0000. The middle country reads 0.4898. Against 2019, 170 values changed (68 up, 102 down), the same countries are covered.

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Frontier Technology Readiness Index · Data for 2020

HighestUnited States

1.0000

LowestSouth Sudan

0.0000

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the better end. A higher value is the better result.

171countries
6measures per country
2020the year it describes
170distinct values4 decimals, as published
Sep 29, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 3.0 IGOlicence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Frontier Technology Readiness Index, 2020, as published. UNCTAD ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 171 countries · select a heading to sort

Frontier Technology Readiness Index, 2020: every country, as published by UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
derived
1	United StatesUSANorthern America	1.0000	0.9465	0.8172	0.9164	0.8134	0.9842
2	SwedenSWENorthern Europe	0.9710	0.9546	0.9521	0.6629	0.8406	0.9409
3	SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe	0.9592	0.9835	0.8309	0.6695	0.8954	0.9608
4	NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe	0.9468	0.9629	0.9018	0.6727	0.8317	0.9136
5	United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe	0.9465	0.8821	0.8636	0.7532	0.8367	0.9470
6	SingaporeSGPSouth-eastern Asia	0.9442	0.9383	0.9249	0.6140	0.8806	0.9348
7	Hong KongHKGEastern Asia	0.9329	0.9746	0.7829	0.6163	0.9016	1.0000
8	GermanyDEUWestern Europe	0.9236	0.8816	0.8281	0.8024	0.8170	0.8957
9	FinlandFINNorthern Europe	0.9170	0.8908	0.9265	0.6267	0.7944	0.9119
10	South KoreaKOREastern Asia	0.9130	0.8930	0.7338	0.8183	0.8091	0.9573
11	BelgiumBELWestern Europe	0.9095	0.9286	0.9373	0.6025	0.7753	0.8860
12	DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe	0.9094	0.9633	0.9113	0.6127	0.7057	0.9572
13	IrelandIRLNorthern Europe	0.8959	0.8680	0.8799	0.5900	1.0000	0.8068
14	CanadaCANNorthern America	0.8916	0.9080	0.7730	0.7144	0.7456	0.9311
15	FranceFRAWestern Europe	0.8914	0.8878	0.7773	0.7370	0.7705	0.9321
16	LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe	0.8834	0.9987	0.8446	0.4743	0.7427	0.9200
17	AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand	0.8833	0.8447	1.0000	0.6817	0.5294	0.9438
18	NorwayNORNorthern Europe	0.8804	0.9367	0.9188	0.5639	0.6102	0.9570
19	IsraelISRWestern Asia	0.8676	0.8375	0.8013	0.6095	0.8971	0.8742
20	JapanJPNEastern Asia	0.8571	0.9069	0.5401	0.7628	0.8275	0.9727
21	New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand	0.8487	0.9371	0.9376	0.5041	0.5309	0.9548
22	SpainESPSouthern Europe	0.8477	0.9157	0.7334	0.6741	0.6907	0.9186
23	ItalyITASouthern Europe	0.8085	0.7736	0.7113	0.7061	0.7370	0.8936
24	AustriaAUTWestern Europe	0.8062	0.8358	0.7454	0.5956	0.7185	0.9040
25	MaltaMLTSouthern Europe	0.8052	0.9439	0.7501	0.3485	0.8475	0.8910
26	ChinaCHNEastern Asia	0.7946	0.5422	0.5281	1.0000	0.8313	0.9674
27	PolandPOLEastern Europe	0.7927	0.8914	0.7216	0.5918	0.6926	0.8456
28	IcelandISLNorthern Europe	0.7884	1.0000	0.9048	0.3022	0.4766	0.9112
29	EstoniaESTNorthern Europe	0.7807	0.9291	0.7705	0.3978	0.7197	0.8683
30	SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe	0.7770	0.9157	0.8100	0.4038	0.7271	0.8325
31	RussiaRUSEastern Europe	0.7714	0.8197	0.7446	0.6801	0.5050	0.8624
32	CzechiaCZEEastern Europe	0.7711	0.8219	0.7084	0.5395	0.7753	0.8516
33	MalaysiaMYSSouth-eastern Asia	0.7697	0.8906	0.4953	0.5546	0.8552	0.9382
34	HungaryHUNEastern Europe	0.7664	0.9515	0.6416	0.4747	0.7827	0.8201
35	United Arab EmiratesAREWestern Asia	0.7663	0.8655	0.7235	0.4748	0.6878	0.8989
36	PortugalPRTSouthern Europe	0.7570	0.8426	0.7175	0.5316	0.5930	0.9149
37	SlovakiaSVKEastern Europe	0.7510	0.9329	0.6126	0.4656	0.7191	0.8724
38	CyprusCYPWestern Asia	0.7498	0.7886	0.6913	0.4293	0.7492	0.9180
39	GreeceGRCSouthern Europe	0.7439	0.8060	0.7962	0.5047	0.5666	0.8929
40	LatviaLVANorthern Europe	0.7324	0.8997	0.7636	0.3452	0.6898	0.8091
41	BrazilBRASouth America	0.7216	0.7787	0.5591	0.6606	0.6031	0.8758
42	LithuaniaLTUNorthern Europe	0.7215	0.8931	0.7667	0.3984	0.5877	0.8186
43	BulgariaBGREastern Europe	0.7012	0.8386	0.5758	0.4596	0.6956	0.8488
44	RomaniaROUEastern Europe	0.6955	0.8885	0.5214	0.5301	0.6828	0.7840
45	ChileCHLSouth America	0.6888	0.7837	0.6471	0.4697	0.4855	0.9312
46	TürkiyeTURWestern Asia	0.6851	0.7018	0.7074	0.5774	0.4764	0.8842
47	CroatiaHRVSouthern Europe	0.6850	0.8316	0.6790	0.3700	0.6127	0.8613
48	IndiaINDSouthern Asia	0.6810	0.6209	0.3389	0.8023	0.8008	0.8541
49	ThailandTHASouth-eastern Asia	0.6786	0.8209	0.4895	0.4658	0.6576	0.9550
50	Saudi ArabiaSAUWestern Asia	0.6657	0.7841	0.6467	0.5873	0.3520	0.8497
51	SerbiaSRBSouthern Europe	0.6616	0.8019	0.5681	0.3808	0.6820	0.8372
52	MexicoMEXCentral America	0.6561	0.7423	0.5056	0.5396	0.7144	0.8177
53	South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa	0.6553	0.7305	0.5092	0.4820	0.5943	0.9190
54	UkraineUKREastern Europe	0.6352	0.7456	0.6062	0.4528	0.5492	0.7923
55	KuwaitKWTWestern Asia	0.6336	0.7820	0.5641	0.2266	0.6600	0.9045
56	BarbadosBRBCaribbean	0.6334	0.8658	0.6681	0.2321	0.4323	0.8966
57	UruguayURYSouth America	0.6309	0.8094	0.5933	0.2909	0.6235	0.7911
58	Costa RicaCRICentral America	0.6292	0.7684	0.5606	0.2100	0.7573	0.8633
59	BelarusBLREastern Europe	0.6264	0.7778	0.6644	0.2790	0.5844	0.8057
60	ColombiaCOLSouth America	0.6231	0.6790	0.6462	0.4643	0.4566	0.8538
61	PhilippinesPHLSouth-eastern Asia	0.6214	0.6244	0.4383	0.4669	0.8526	0.8498
62	ArgentinaARGSouth America	0.6176	0.6878	0.6954	0.4346	0.5193	0.7231
63	VietnamVNMSouth-eastern Asia	0.6152	0.7208	0.3626	0.4319	0.7726	0.9244
64	PanamaPANCentral America	0.6005	0.8233	0.4675	0.2521	0.6296	0.9110
65	MontenegroMNESouthern Europe	0.5920	0.8011	0.6538	0.1608	0.4820	0.8630
66	BahrainBHRWestern Asia	0.5910	0.7733	0.5836	0.2141	0.5074	0.8824
67	QatarQATWestern Asia	0.5782	0.8488	0.4187	0.3724	0.3464	0.9417
68	MauritiusMUSEastern Africa	0.5733	0.6547	0.5416	0.2642	0.5455	0.9029
69	OmanOMNWestern Asia	0.5673	0.7752	0.4688	0.3532	0.4301	0.8859
70	MoroccoMARNorthern Africa	0.5671	0.6895	0.3482	0.4769	0.5547	0.9020
71	KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia	0.5647	0.6684	0.6319	0.3626	0.4759	0.7835
72	TunisiaTUNNorthern Africa	0.5618	0.6330	0.5137	0.3932	0.5482	0.8743
73	JordanJORWestern Asia	0.5549	0.7512	0.4187	0.3614	0.4891	0.8936
74	GeorgiaGEOWestern Asia	0.5536	0.7279	0.6176	0.1880	0.4229	0.8889
75	MoldovaMDAEastern Europe	0.5532	0.7502	0.4737	0.3497	0.4892	0.7940
76	IranIRNSouthern Asia	0.5503	0.6314	0.4794	0.4974	0.4028	0.8636
77	North MacedoniaMKDSouthern Europe	0.5414	0.7364	0.4880	0.1992	0.5467	0.8562
78	Trinidad and TobagoTTOCaribbean	0.5357	0.8165	0.5588	0.1307	0.3865	0.8395
79	LebanonLBNWestern Asia	0.5299	0.6003	0.4654	0.2568	0.5548	0.9169
80	Bosnia and HerzegovinaBIHSouthern Europe	0.5249	0.7440	0.4610	0.2204	0.4887	0.8594
81	IndonesiaIDNSouth-eastern Asia	0.5220	0.6049	0.3917	0.3578	0.6442	0.8220
82	EgyptEGYNorthern Africa	0.5218	0.6256	0.4957	0.4425	0.4339	0.7840
83	Sri LankaLKASouthern Asia	0.5067	0.6244	0.4938	0.2649	0.4667	0.8402
84	ArmeniaARMWestern Asia	0.5025	0.7266	0.4581	0.1718	0.3972	0.8804
85	BruneiBRNSouth-eastern Asia	0.4975	0.7451	0.6242	0.1992	0.1836	0.8244
86	FijiFJIMelanesia	0.4898	0.7154	0.4594	0.1701	0.3457	0.9305
87	Dominican RepublicDOMCaribbean	0.4803	0.7302	0.4608	0.1160	0.5159	0.7998
88	AlbaniaALBSouthern Europe	0.4800	0.7186	0.5040	0.1567	0.3779	0.8132
89	BahamasBHSCaribbean	0.4776	0.8776	0.5451	0.0300	0.0988	0.8640
90	PeruPERSouth America	0.4676	0.6557	0.4525	0.3035	0.2356	0.8555
91	EcuadorECUSouth America	0.4585	0.6782	0.4286	0.2840	0.2524	0.8442
92	Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesVCTCaribbean	0.4576	0.7559	0.6189	0.0313	0.1228	0.8408
=93	JamaicaJAMCaribbean	0.4546	0.7763	0.4277	0.1307	0.2480	0.8581
=93	NamibiaNAMSouthern Africa	0.4546	0.5625	0.3725	0.1690	0.5890	0.8812
95	UzbekistanUZBCentral Asia	0.4503	0.5460	0.4245	0.3208	0.4132	0.8139
96	ParaguayPRYSouth America	0.4477	0.7511	0.4637	0.1124	0.2556	0.8473
97	AzerbaijanAZEWestern Asia	0.4381	0.6628	0.4738	0.2290	0.2357	0.7849
98	Saint LuciaLCACaribbean	0.4373	0.7554	0.4364	0.0000	0.3137	0.8885
99	MaldivesMDVSouthern Asia	0.4269	0.6665	0.5425	0.0810	0.1827	0.8521
100	GhanaGHAWestern Africa	0.4212	0.6105	0.2982	0.2343	0.4886	0.7203
101	BotswanaBWASouthern Africa	0.4174	0.5619	0.3735	0.1778	0.4024	0.8245
102	NepalNPLSouthern Asia	0.4168	0.5010	0.3749	0.2176	0.3374	0.8994
103	BoliviaBOLSouth America	0.4138	0.5944	0.4620	0.1224	0.2285	0.8902
104	El SalvadorSLVCentral America	0.4134	0.5934	0.3146	0.1041	0.5232	0.8711
105	MongoliaMNGEastern Asia	0.4125	0.6068	0.5384	0.1668	0.0873	0.8378
106	BelizeBLZCentral America	0.4093	0.6978	0.3969	0.0728	0.2438	0.8551
107	LibyaLBYNorthern Africa	0.4054	0.6098	0.5286	0.1522	0.1798	0.7368
108	AlgeriaDZANorthern Africa	0.4051	0.4999	0.5133	0.2870	0.2039	0.7852
109	GuyanaGUYSouth America	0.4050	0.6232	0.4207	0.0993	0.3022	0.8232
110	EswatiniSWZSouthern Africa	0.3951	0.5417	0.4846	0.0497	0.4299	0.7681
111	KyrgyzstanKGZCentral Asia	0.3938	0.6400	0.3806	0.1437	0.3140	0.7870
112	Cabo VerdeCPVWestern Africa	0.3929	0.6508	0.3480	0.0728	0.3075	0.8754
113	GuatemalaGTMCentral America	0.3883	0.5852	0.2436	0.1354	0.5112	0.8149
114	CambodiaKHMSouth-eastern Asia	0.3864	0.5742	0.2690	0.1281	0.3703	0.9422
115	KenyaKENEastern Africa	0.3794	0.4793	0.3031	0.2432	0.4378	0.8047
116	SamoaWSMPolynesia	0.3779	0.3878	0.4205	0.1063	0.4876	0.8022
117	BangladeshBGDSouthern Asia	0.3718	0.4464	0.2741	0.3923	0.2832	0.8231
118	VenezuelaVENSouth America	0.3663	0.4909	0.4861	0.1887	0.1827	0.7979
119	MyanmarMMRSouth-eastern Asia	0.3638	0.5528	0.2458	0.1914	0.4336	0.7950
120	HondurasHNDCentral America	0.3602	0.5512	0.2450	0.1787	0.3042	0.8793
121	BhutanBTNSouthern Asia	0.3590	0.6374	0.4031	0.0940	0.0374	0.8742
122	SurinameSURSouth America	0.3587	0.6134	0.4338	0.0313	0.2239	0.7781
123	NigeriaNGAWestern Africa	0.3583	0.4237	0.4122	0.3499	0.2289	0.7134
124	NicaraguaNICCentral America	0.3517	0.6022	0.3568	0.0728	0.2525	0.7979
125	LaosLAOSouth-eastern Asia	0.3505	0.5609	0.2767	0.0993	0.4940	0.7644
126	TogoTGOWestern Africa	0.3425	0.4219	0.3776	0.0810	0.4273	0.7890
127	IraqIRQWestern Asia	0.3406	0.5112	0.4106	0.3532	0.0000	0.7221
128	GabonGABMiddle Africa	0.3386	0.6194	0.3588	0.1160	0.2501	0.7226
129	CameroonCMRMiddle Africa	0.3372	0.4593	0.3540	0.1921	0.3504	0.7274
130	VanuatuVUTMelanesia	0.3314	0.5305	0.3413	0.0313	0.2682	0.8634
131	SenegalSENWestern Africa	0.3296	0.5853	0.1347	0.1964	0.3478	0.7960
132	DjiboutiDJIEastern Africa	0.3223	0.4871	0.3177	0.0313	0.4921	0.7643
133	São Tomé and PríncipeSTPMiddle Africa	0.3022	0.4741	0.3549	0.0000	0.3917	0.7597
134	LesothoLSOSouthern Africa	0.2936	0.5493	0.2832	0.0880	0.2041	0.7689
135	PakistanPAKSouthern Asia	0.2930	0.2726	0.1332	0.3887	0.4790	0.7335
136	Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa	0.2795	0.3225	0.3206	0.1377	0.3574	0.7367
137	Solomon IslandsSLBMelanesia	0.2793	0.5130	0.2790	0.0000	0.2280	0.8059
138	Côte d’IvoireCIVWestern Africa	0.2742	0.4974	0.1900	0.1620	0.2216	0.7629
139	LiberiaLBRWestern Africa	0.2606	0.4609	0.2571	0.0000	0.2881	0.7228
140	RwandaRWAEastern Africa	0.2605	0.3750	0.2305	0.1760	0.2699	0.7813
141	MaliMLIWestern Africa	0.2594	0.4020	0.0428	0.1377	0.4833	0.7847
142	MadagascarMDGEastern Africa	0.2591	0.4389	0.1377	0.1490	0.3218	0.7417
143	Papua New GuineaPNGMelanesia	0.2588	0.3467	0.2738	0.1377	0.2787	0.7545
144	AngolaAGOMiddle Africa	0.2574	0.4733	0.3008	0.0940	0.1342	0.7179
145	ZimbabweZWEEastern Africa	0.2546	0.4757	0.2360	0.1981	0.2198	0.6379
146	ZambiaZMBEastern Africa	0.2427	0.3823	0.2534	0.1741	0.1773	0.7343
147	HaitiHTICaribbean	0.2411	0.5030	0.2516	0.0000	0.2797	0.6813
148	ComorosCOMEastern Africa	0.2320	0.3740	0.3385	0.0000	0.1543	0.7332
149	EthiopiaETHEastern Africa	0.2300	0.1766	0.1579	0.3759	0.3285	0.7488
150	Guinea-BissauGNBWestern Africa	0.2252	0.3283	0.2042	0.0000	0.3508	0.7349
151	MalawiMWIEastern Africa	0.2250	0.3676	0.2295	0.1594	0.2176	0.6705
152	BeninBENWestern Africa	0.2173	0.2816	0.2167	0.1507	0.3138	0.7366
153	MauritaniaMRTWestern Africa	0.2076	0.3978	0.1838	0.0940	0.1288	0.7722
154	NigerNERWestern Africa	0.2066	0.2323	0.1390	0.1193	0.5051	0.7100
155	UgandaUGAEastern Africa	0.2027	0.1615	0.2339	0.2044	0.3142	0.7283
156	GuineaGINWestern Africa	0.2018	0.3975	0.1952	0.0810	0.1967	0.6949
157	TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa	0.2008	0.4076	0.1060	0.2030	0.1610	0.7157
158	Equatorial GuineaGNQMiddle Africa	0.1968	0.3938	0.2974	0.0000	0.0764	0.7189
159	Burkina FasoBFAWestern Africa	0.1945	0.2966	0.1018	0.1668	0.1844	0.7940
160	Timor-LesteTLSSouth-eastern Asia	0.1921	0.2985	0.3823	0.0000	0.1016	0.7229
161	MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa	0.1905	0.3065	0.1910	0.1633	0.0868	0.7768
162	GambiaGMBWestern Africa	0.1847	0.4238	0.1735	0.0728	0.1706	0.6762
163	TajikistanTJKCentral Asia	0.1807	0.2788	0.3215	0.1124	0.0245	0.7201
164	AfghanistanAFGSouthern Asia	0.1502	0.2243	0.2158	0.1193	0.2243	0.5855
165	DR CongoCODMiddle Africa	0.1495	0.2786	0.1980	0.1490	0.0943	0.6678
166	SudanSDNNorthern Africa	0.1448	0.2984	0.1804	0.1778	0.0281	0.6731
167	BurundiBDIEastern Africa	0.1374	0.1827	0.1575	0.0810	0.1302	0.7759
168	YemenYEMWestern Asia	0.1202	0.0940	0.1494	0.1701	0.2828	0.6416
169	ChadTCDMiddle Africa	0.0805	0.1072	0.0741	0.0728	0.2182	0.6960
170	Sierra LeoneSLEWestern Africa	0.0004	0.4064	0.1526	0.0993	0.2416	0.0000
171	South SudanSSDEastern Africa	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0313	0.2358	0.5410

02In 2020

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.

Highest

1United States1.0000
2Sweden0.9710
3Switzerland0.9592
4Netherlands0.9468
5United Kingdom0.9465

Lowest

171South Sudan0.0000
170Sierra Leone0.0004
169Chad0.0805
168Yemen0.1202
167Burundi0.1374

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.4898. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

ICT deployment
HighestIceland1.0000
LowestSouth Sudan0.0000
Middle country: 0.6665
Skills
HighestAustralia1.0000
LowestSouth Sudan0.0000
Middle country: 0.4654
Research and development
HighestChina1.0000
Lowest9 share it
Middle country: 0.2321
Industry activity
HighestIreland1.0000
LowestIraq0.0000
Middle country: 0.4566
Access to finance
HighestHong Kong1.0000
LowestSierra Leone0.0000
Middle country: 0.8402

032019 → 2020

Since 2019

What changed between 2019 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
170values changed, of 171 in both
68 · 102rose · fell
1unchanged

Rose most

Libya0.3224 → 0.4054+0.0830
Republic of the Congo0.2275 → 0.2795+0.0520
Costa Rica0.5782 → 0.6292+0.0510
Ghana0.3745 → 0.4212+0.0467
Qatar0.5344 → 0.5782+0.0438

Fell most

Yemen0.1990 → 0.1202−0.0788
Liberia0.3281 → 0.2606−0.0675
Chad0.1431 → 0.0805−0.0626
Sudan0.2060 → 0.1448−0.0612
Tajikistan0.2383 → 0.1807−0.0576

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

The site’s method

One year of the 2025 release
Every year in this series comes from UNCTAD’s 2025 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 2020.
170 distinct values among 171
Values are stored exactly as published, to 4 decimals. 2 countries share 0.4546. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
The position is ours
UNCTAD publishes values only. The order here sorts the published values, and the page says so wherever it prints one.
Which end is better
A higher value is the better result.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 171 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

.csv
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UNCTAD’s own file, on its own site.
US_FTRI

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO. The version of CC BY written for intergovernmental organisations. Credit the publisher and say what you changed.

Cite this edition

UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (2020). Frontier Technology Readiness Index, 2020 [data set], describing 2020. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/frontier-technology-readiness/2020

0614 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Frontier Technology Readiness Index, 2019
171 countries
The year after ›
Frontier Technology Readiness Index, 2021
171 countries
All of them
Frontier Technology Readiness Index: every year
14 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions