OECD Digital Economy and Society Outlook 2026

Reader’s guide

Acronyms

5G	Fifth generation of wireless cellular technology
6G	Sixth generation of wireless cellular technology
AI	Artificial intelligence
AWS	Amazon Web Services
BEREC	Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (European Commission)
CAGR	Compound annual growth rate
CC	Cloud computing
CNMC	Commission on Markets and Competition (Spain)
CRM	Customer Relationship Management
DEO	Digital Economy Outlook
DFFT	Data free flow with trust
DIPs	Digital intermediation platforms
DNA	Digital Networks Act (European Commission)
DPC	Digital Policy Committee (OECD)
DSA	Digital Services Act (European Commission)
DSIT	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (United Kingdom)
EBITDA	Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation
EECC	EU Electronic Communications Code (European Commission)
ESCS	Economic, Social and Cultural Status
EU	European Union
FCC	Federal Communications Commission (United States)
FTTH	Fibre-to-the-home
FWA	Fixed wireless access
FV	Fixed voice
GenAI	Generative artificial intelligence
GDP	Gross domestic product
GDPR	General Data Protection Regulation (European Commission)
GPU	Graphics processing unit
HBSC	Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children: WTO Collaborative Cross-National Study
ICIO	Inter-Country Input-Output
ICT	Information and communication technology
IEA	International Energy Agency
IoT	Internet of Things
ISP	Internet service provider
LAC	Latin America and the Caribbean
MMORPG	Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
MOBA	Multiplayer online battle arena
MPC	Multi-party computation
MSS	Mobile satellite service
MVD	Mobile voice and data
NDS	National digital strategy
NHS	National Health Service (United Kingdom)
NTN	Non-terrestrial networks
OLS	Ordinary least squares
OSS	Open-source software
OTT	Over-the-top
PEGI	Pan-European Game Information
PETs	Privacy-enhancing technologies
PISA	Programme for International Student Assessment (OECD)
p.p.	Percentage point
PUE	Power usage effectiveness
R&D	Research and development
RMSE	Root mean square error
RPG	Role-playing game
RTS	Real-time strategy
SMEs	Small and medium-sized enterprises
SMP	Significant market power
TEE	Trusted execution environment
TiVA	Trade in value added (OECD and WTO)
USF	Universal Service Fund (United States)
WPCSI	Working Party on Connectivity Services and Infrastructures (OECD)
WPDEMA	Working Party on Digital Economics, Measurement and Analysis (OECD)

Abbreviations

For most of the charts, this publication uses ISO codes for countries or economies.

 

ARG	Argentina	ITA	Italy
AUS	Australia	JPN	Japan
AUT	Austria	KAZ	Kazakhstan
BEL	Belgium	KOR	Korea
BGR	Bulgaria	LTU	Lithuania
BRA	Brazil	LUX	Luxembourg
CAN	Canada	LVA	Latvia
CHE	Switzerland	MEX	Mexico
CHL	Chile	MLT	Malta
COL	Colombia	NLD	Netherlands
CRI	Costa Rica	NOR	Norway
CZE	Czechia	NZL	New Zealand
DEU	Germany	PER	Peru
DNK	Denmark	POL	Poland
EGY	Egypt	PRT	Portugal
ESP	Spain	ROU	Romania
EST	Estonia	RUS	Russian Federation
FIN	Finland	SAU	Saudi Arabia
FRA	France	SGP	Singapore
GBR	United Kingdom	SVK	Slovak Republic
GRC	Greece	SVN	Slovenia
HRV	Croatia	SWE	Sweden
HUN	Hungary	THA	Thailand
IDN	Indonesia	TUR	Türkiye
IND	India	TWN	Chinese Taipei
IRL	Ireland	USA	United States
ISL	Iceland	VNM	Viet Nam
ISR	Israel	ZAF	South Africa

Country groupings

 

Euro Area	Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Spain.
EU	Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
G7	Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
G20	Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Korea, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.
OECD	Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, the United Kingdom and the United States.