MEASURING THE ICT DEVELOPMENT LEVEL IN EUROPEAN AND CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTRIES USING THE INTEGRATED MPSI-RAPS METHOD

This study was carried out to provide basic information for future policies and strategies by objectively considering the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) development levels of 14 countries selected for Europe and Central Asia with the MPSI-RAPS integrated method, based on the 10 indicators included in the 2023 ICT development index report. The weight values of indicators considered as criteria were determined by the MPSI method; The RAPS method was used to determine and compare the development levels of countries according to criteria. As a result of the analysis, the most important criterion is fixed broadband internet basket price (% GNP/k.); It turns out that the most important criterion is the population (%) covered by at least 3G mobile network. While Austria ranked highest in ICT development level, Azerbaijan was determined as the country with the lowest level. Additionally, it was revealed as a result of the Spearman Rho Correlation test that there is a significant and strong positive relationship between the rankings obtained by the MPSI-RAPS integrated method analysis and the rankings in the ICT (Information Technologies) development index report. This finding showed that the MPSIRAPS integrated method can be used to evaluate the ICT development levels of countries.