ICTs are increasingly becoming part and parcel of national development strategies. ICTs are instruments to enhance efficiency and productivity, as well as strategic elements of the ICT-driven growth process, for example through the development of the ICT goods and ICT-enabled services sectors, or through innovation in the industrial sector. Recognizing the important contribution of ICT to growth and development, Governments have increasingly adopted ICT-related policies.

Indicators and statistical data are essential to plan, monitor and evaluate policies. In the same way, indicators and statistical data on ICTs are essential to design evidence-based and results-oriented policies. To this end, figures on the access to, use of, and impact of ICTs on the ICT sector, and on ICT-related areas such as innovation, are particularly important. 

In order to be useful, ICT statistics need to be reliable, comparable, and timely. Based on this data, policymakers:

• Can determine the level of ICT readiness in their countries; for example by measuring the number and type of people that have access to the Internet, and what they use it for;
• Can formulate policy objectives based on quantitative and qualitative indicators that can be monitored;
• Can compare ICT access, use, and impact between segments of the population or economic sectors, in order to identify the most suitable targets of ICT policy actions;
• Can assess the impact of ICT policies on ICT readiness, or on social and economic development;
• Can benchmark the results of their ICT policies against those of other countries, and draw lessons from these comparisons.

As recognized by the World Summit on the Information Society, ICT data and indicators are necessary to measure the digital divide.

Countries need data to assess their position in relation to the digital divide between developed and developing countries, and to conduct empirical analyses of ICT trends and impacts.