A reporter reported that on 7 Nov 2025, the Thailand Management Association (TMA) revealed results on the country's digital competitiveness ranking.
The ranking, known as the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking (WDCR), is compiled by the World Competitiveness Center of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland. For 2025, Switzerland ranked first as the country with the highest digital competitiveness worldwide, followed by the United States and Singapore. Thailand was ranked 38th out of 69 economic zones, down from 37th in 2024 and 35th in 2023.
IMD reported that geopolitical divisions significantly affect countries' digital capabilities. Countries less impacted by trade wars, like Qatar, rose rapidly in rankings, whereas heavily affected countries such as Australia dropped. The top 10 countries out of 69 include Switzerland, the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, and Taiwan.
Notably this year, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) entered the top 10 for the first time due to a strategic focus on digital transformation, similar to Canada, which also rose into the top 10 driven primarily by future readiness development.
Among ASEAN countries, Singapore remains the sole top-ten leader in the region, dropping from first place in 2024 to third in 2025. Singapore continues as a strong digital hub, holding the world’s top spot in regulatory framework, first in advanced technology patents per capita, second in PISA math scores, and second in banking and financial services efficiency. However, its ranking dropped due to declines in future readiness, low telecom investment, modest e-retail activity, and a relatively low proportion of female researchers.
Thailand ranked 38th, down from the previous year, primarily due to declines in key technology factors such as the regulatory framework, capital, and technological infrastructure—all previously Thailand's strengths—showing decreases across the board.
Weaknesses were evident across all sub-indicators including knowledge, employment in science and technology fields, AI-related articles, private sector AI investment, future readiness, tablet ownership, and software piracy rates.
The TMA analyzed the drop in core technology factors as resulting from faster development by competitors, stagnation in technology indicators like low R&D investment, a lack of new innovations such as unicorn startups, skills gaps caused by shortages in STEM workforce quantity and quality, structural and regulatory obstacles, and the complexity of bureaucracy.