Digital Country Rankings for the Visegrád Group Countries with DEA and TOPSIS

Zoltán Bánhidi, Imre Dobos, Noémi Kalló, Ariella Janka Tarjáni
Statistika, 105(1): 87–101
https://doi.org/10.54694/stat.2024.32

Abstract
Our paper is based on the five principal dimensions of the International Digital Economy and Society Index (I-DESI), but instead of using the original scoring model based on arbitrary pre-determined weights, we apply more objective ranking methods that use the statistical properties of the data series to determine where the Visegrad Group (V4) countries (Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) stand in terms of digital development among the countries of the European Union and other developed countries in the data set. The ranking is performed using the DEA-CWA (Data Envelopment Analysis/Common Weights Analysis) method (with six models) and the TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method. Although the resulting weight vectors differ significantly from the arbitrary weights set by the European Commission, the country rankings remain similar, displaying relatively little sensitivity to the weighting method chosen.

Keywords
Data Envelopment Analysis, information and communication technology, International Digital Economy and Society Index, TOPSIS, Visegrád Group