{"id":543290,"date":"2026-08-11T11:12:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T09:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/bitkom-eu-digital-ranking-germany-ranks-17th\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T11:12:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T09:12:28","slug":"bitkom-eu-digital-ranking-germany-ranks-17th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/bitkom-eu-digital-ranking-germany-ranks-17th\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitkom: EU Digital Ranking \u2013 Germany Ranks 17th"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 25%;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.pblzr.de\/dacbb27c-1270-4041-b681-e2b95f06f8a1\/2026\/08\/bitkom-logo-400x300_2_TEXT.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Germany is making progress in digitalization, but other countries are moving faster. If we want to take the lead in the digital race, we must not only improve but also accelerate our efforts,&#8221; says Bitkom President Dr. Ralf Wintergerst. &#8220;Ranking 17th cannot be Germany\u2019s goal. This calls for simultaneous action by policymakers at the federal and state levels, the business community, and educational institutions, among others.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Since 2014, the European Commission has been compiling comprehensive data on the digitalization of member states. Until 2022, it published the so-called DESI\u2014the \u201cDigital Economy and Society Index\u201d\u2014based on this data, featuring an overall ranking of EU countries. Since 2023, such an overall ranking no longer exists. Instead, as part of the \u201c2030 Digital Decade Report,\u201d the European Commission reports on the relevant individual indicators, such as digital skills, 5G coverage, fiber-optic availability, the use of digital technologies in businesses, and digital public services. Using this set of indicators and the established EU methodology, Bitkom once again compiles individual, sector-specific, and overall rankings. The new Bitkom DESI comprises 44 indicators. In the 2026 overall ranking, Denmark takes first place with 76.4 points, followed by Finland (72.9 points), the Netherlands (72.7 points), Malta (70.3 points), and Luxembourg (69.3 points). Wintergerst: \u201cA large, federal country like Germany can only be compared to a limited extent with Luxembourg, Estonia, or even Denmark. Among populous, geographically large countries, Germany is well positioned. Spain, which also has a federal structure, is a pioneer in this regard and shows that Germany, too, can do better.\u201d At the bottom of the rankings are Romania (26.5 points), Bulgaria (36.9 points), and Slovakia (38.3 points).<\/p>\n<p>For Germany, the rankings in the individual categories are as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In the \u201cDigital Transformation of Businesses\u201d category, Germany ranks 11th in the EU, down from 8th the previous year. Among the five largest EU countries, Germany ranks first. Here, Germany showed a slightly better performance than the EU average, particularly in terms of the number of unicorns\u2014that is, startups valued at more than one billion euros. Denmark ranks first in this category, followed by Finland, the Netherlands, and Belgium.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>In terms of \u201cquality of digital infrastructure,\u201d Germany also ranks 11th (up from 9th the previous year) and 2nd among the five most populous EU countries. 5G coverage now reaches 99.5 percent of households, exceeding the EU average of 96.8 percent. In terms of \u201cuse of digital infrastructure,\u201d Germany ranks only 21st, as the vast majority of households do not use the super-broadband and fiber-optic connections available in their area. Only 7 percent of the population uses a broadband connection with a speed of at least 1,000 Mbit\/s.<\/li>\n<li>In the \u201cDigital Skills\u201d category, Germany has improved by four ranks, moving from 15th place in 2025 to 11th place today. Among the five largest EU countries, Germany ranks second. The proportion of IT professionals is encouraging: They account for 5.5 percent of the workforce in Germany, compared to the EU average of 5.0 percent. Germany also exceeds the EU average of 5.5 percent with a 6.2 percent share of graduates in IT disciplines. Ireland, Finland, and the Netherlands achieve the highest scores in digital skills.<\/li>\n<li>In terms of the \u201cdigitization of public administration,\u201d Germany ranks only 22nd out of 27 EU countries, down from 21st the previous year. Although progress has been made here as well\u2014for example, with pre-filled forms\u2014Germany\u2019s score has risen to 52.0 points but remains well below the EU average of 75.9 points. Digital government services are used by 69.6 percent of internet users in Germany, compared to 76.0 percent across the EU. Malta ranks first in digital government, followed by Estonia and Finland. Among the five largest EU countries, Germany ranks third in this segment.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Wintergerst: \u201cThe key question is: How do we put Germany on a faster path to digitization\u2014and thus to growth? It\u2019s important that we accelerate our digital projects\u2014from company incorporations in 24 hours to faster approvals for data centers, cell towers, and factories, all the way to the widespread use of AI in businesses. And we need smart regulation: less bureaucracy, simpler reporting requirements, digital identities, and the \u2018once-only\u2019 principle, so that citizens and businesses only have to provide their data once. Digital transformation must not remain piecemeal. Germany needs a digital North Star\u2014for greater prosperity, competitiveness, resilience, and sovereignty.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"\">Further Links<\/h4>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitkom.org\" target=\"_blank\">www.bitkom.org<\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i>Photo: unsplash<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>August 3, 2026. Germany is making progress in digitalization, but cannot keep pace with the pace of smaller EU countries in particular. In the new Bitkom DESI Index 2026, Germany ranks 17th among the 27 EU member states\u2014with 51.1 points. Last year, Germany was still in 14th place (50.1 points), and in 13th place in the European Commission\u2019s 2022 DESI Index. At the same time, the comparison shows that among the five largest EU countries, Germany ranks second behind Spain and ahead of France, Poland, and Italy. This is shown by the Bitkom DESI Index, which compares the progress of EU countries in digitalization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4764],"tags":[2043,1996,250,2018],"class_list":["post-543290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-software-en","tag-digitalization","tag-internationalization","tag-it","tag-studies-reports"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bitkom: EU Digital Ranking \u2013 Germany Ranks 17th - Silicon Saxony<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/bitkom-eu-digital-ranking-germany-ranks-17th\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bitkom: EU Digital Ranking \u2013 Germany Ranks 17th - Silicon Saxony\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"August 3, 2026. Germany is making progress in digitalization, but cannot keep pace with the pace of smaller EU countries in particular. In the new Bitkom DESI Index 2026, Germany ranks 17th among the 27 EU member states\u2014with 51.1 points. Last year, Germany was still in 14th place (50.1 points), and in 13th place in the European Commission\u2019s 2022 DESI Index. At the same time, the comparison shows that among the five largest EU countries, Germany ranks second behind Spain and ahead of France, Poland, and Italy. This is shown by the Bitkom DESI Index, which compares the progress of EU countries in digitalization.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/bitkom-eu-digital-ranking-germany-ranks-17th\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Silicon Saxony\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-11T09:12:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.pblzr.de\/dacbb27c-1270-4041-b681-e2b95f06f8a1\/2026\/08\/bitkom-logo-400x300_2_TEXT.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"publizer2silisax\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"publizer2silisax\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/bitkom-eu-digital-ranking-germany-ranks-17th\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/bitkom-eu-digital-ranking-germany-ranks-17th\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"publizer2silisax\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/098cd473f5dd7707320dd1e252e15ac6\"},\"headline\":\"Bitkom: EU Digital Ranking \u2013 Germany Ranks 17th\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-11T09:12:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/bitkom-eu-digital-ranking-germany-ranks-17th\/\"},\"wordCount\":729,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/bitkom-eu-digital-ranking-germany-ranks-17th\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.pblzr.de\/dacbb27c-1270-4041-b681-e2b95f06f8a1\/2026\/08\/bitkom-logo-400x300_2_TEXT.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Digitalization\",\"Internationalization\",\"IT\",\"Studies &amp; 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