Data for 2021

Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index, 2021

Name: Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index, 2021
Creator: OECD
License: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html

2021, as OECD’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

The OECD’s Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index scores the rules that make it harder to sell services across a border over the internet — connectivity and data-transfer rules, electronic contracts, payments and intellectual property — from 0 (open) to 1 (closed). It measures how freely digital services can cross a country’s border, not how digital the country is.

Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index, 2021 covers 129 countries on 6 measures. Somalia is highest, at 0.64938; 4 countries share the lowest reading, 0.02124. The middle country reads 0.20254. Against 2020, 14 values changed (8 up, 6 down), the same countries are covered.

Download CSV Cite this year

Share this page

Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index · Data for 2021

HighestSomalia

0.64938

Lowest4 countries share it

0.02124

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the lowest end.

129countries
6measures per country
2021the year it describes
107distinct values16 decimals, as published
Sep 29, 2026read from the publisher
OECD termslicence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index, 2021, as published. OECD ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 129 countries · select a heading to sort

Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index, 2021: every country, as published by OECD.
derived
1	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.64938	0.36	0.08	0.06	0.11	0.04
2	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.60923	0.36	0.11	0.04	0.04	0.07
3	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.60707	0.44	0.04	0.02	0.00	0.11
4	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.55931	0.44	0.04	0.04	0.02	0.02
5	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.52810	0.32	0.04	0.04	0.02	0.11
6	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.52670	0.36	0.06	0.02	0.02	0.07
7	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.52359	0.40	0.02	0.02	0.04	0.04
8	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.51854	0.44	0.06	0.02	0.00	0.00
9	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	0.51618	0.20	0.08	0.04	0.11	0.09
=10	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.50898	0.32	0.06	0.02	0.02	0.09
=10	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.50898	0.32	0.06	0.02	0.02	0.09
12	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.50574	0.32	0.06	0.04	0.00	0.09
13	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.46787	0.24	0.02	0.06	0.02	0.13
14	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.44168	0.28	0.02	0.06	0.02	0.07
15	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.42936	0.28	0.04	0.00	0.04	0.07
16	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.40515	0.24	0.04	0.04	0.00	0.09
17	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.38681	0.20	0.04	0.04	0.04	0.07
18	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.38179	0.28	0.06	0.02	0.00	0.02
19	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.37514	0.12	0.08	0.02	0.06	0.09
20	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.37012	0.16	0.02	0.04	0.02	0.13
21	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.36981	0.16	0.02	0.04	0.04	0.11
22	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.36411	0.28	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.04
23	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.36059	0.32	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.02
24	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.36056	0.28	0.04	0.02	0.00	0.02
25	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.35066	0.12	0.06	0.04	0.04	0.09
26	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.34676	0.20	0.04	0.02	0.02	0.07
27	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.34495	0.20	0.00	0.04	0.00	0.11
28	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.33150	0.08	0.11	0.04	0.04	0.07
29	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.32901	0.12	0.06	0.04	0.02	0.09
30	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.32481	0.20	0.04	0.02	0.02	0.04
31	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.30849	0.12	0.02	0.04	0.02	0.11
32	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.30781	0.16	0.02	0.02	0.02	0.09
33	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.30384	0.16	0.04	0.04	0.00	0.07
34	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.30320	0.24	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.04
35	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.30217	0.24	0.04	0.00	0.02	0.00
36	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.29964	0.24	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.02
37	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.29145	0.08	0.11	0.02	0.02	0.07
38	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.28616	0.16	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.09
39	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.28582	0.12	0.04	0.04	0.02	0.07
40	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.28257	0.12	0.04	0.06	0.00	0.07
41	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.27766	0.20	0.04	0.04	0.00	0.00
42	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	0.27127	0.12	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.11
43	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.26885	0.12	0.00	0.02	0.02	0.11
44	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.26420	0.16	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.07
45	Chile`CHL`South America	0.26250	0.20	0.04	0.00	0.02	0.00
=46	Colombia`COL`South America	0.25929	0.24	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.00
=46	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.25929	0.24	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.00
48	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.24577	0.12	0.04	0.02	0.00	0.07
49	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.24546	0.12	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.08
50	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.24157	0.20	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.02
51	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.24150	0.12	0.06	0.04	0.00	0.02
52	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.23170	0.08	0.02	0.00	0.04	0.09
=53	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.22808	0.12	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.09
=53	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.22808	0.00	0.06	0.06	0.04	0.07
55	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.22671	0.08	0.06	0.02	0.04	0.02
56	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.22525	0.12	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.09
57	Peru`PER`South America	0.22313	0.16	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.02
58	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.22033	0.20	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.02
59	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.22030	0.16	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.02
60	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.20971	0.04	0.04	0.02	0.04	0.07
61	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.20927	0.00	0.08	0.04	0.02	0.07
62	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.20718	0.04	0.02	0.04	0.02	0.09
63	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.20551	0.12	0.02	0.00	0.04	0.02
64	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.20257	0.12	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.04
65	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.20254	0.08	0.04	0.04	0.00	0.04
66	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.18909	0.04	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.11
67	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.18769	0.08	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.07
68	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.18417	0.12	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.04
69	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.18345	0.12	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.02
70	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.18134	0.12	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.04
71	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.18130	0.08	0.02	0.04	0.00	0.04
72	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.18065	0.16	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.02
73	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.18062	0.12	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.02
74	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.17990	0.12	0.04	0.02	0.00	0.00
75	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.17710	0.16	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.00
76	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.17287	0.00	0.06	0.00	0.04	0.07
77	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.16614	0.08	0.02	0.00	0.02	0.04
78	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.16502	0.08	0.06	0.00	0.00	0.02
79	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.16222	0.12	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.02
80	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.15938	0.12	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.02
81	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.14518	0.04	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.07
82	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.14450	0.08	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.04
83	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.14419	0.08	0.02	0.00	0.02	0.02
84	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.14378	0.08	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.02
85	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.14347	0.08	0.04	0.00	0.02	0.00
86	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.14098	0.12	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.02
87	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.14095	0.08	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.02
88	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.14026	0.12	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.00
89	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.12322	0.04	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.04
90	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.12254	0.08	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.02
91	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.12182	0.08	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.00
92	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.10875	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.02	0.07
93	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.10492	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.04	0.02
=94	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.10479	0.00	0.04	0.02	0.00	0.04
=94	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.10479	0.00	0.04	0.02	0.00	0.04
96	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.10410	0.04	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.02
=97	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.10130	0.08	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.02
=97	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.10130	0.08	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.02
99	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.10059	0.08	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.00
100	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.08679	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.02	0.04
101	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.08355	0.00	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.04
=102	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.08287	0.04	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.02
=102	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.08287	0.04	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.02
=102	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.08287	0.04	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.02
=102	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	0.08287	0.04	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.02
=102	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.08287	0.04	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.02
=107	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.06443	0.00	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.02
=107	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.06443	0.00	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.02
=107	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.06443	0.00	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.02
=110	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.06160	0.00	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.02
=110	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.06160	0.00	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.02
=110	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.06160	0.00	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.02
=113	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.06091	0.04	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.00
=113	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	0.06091	0.04	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.00
=113	United States`USA`Northern America	0.06091	0.04	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.00
=116	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.04319	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.02
=116	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.04319	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.02
=116	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.04319	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.02
=116	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.04319	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.02
120	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.04288	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.02	0.00
=121	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.04247	0.00	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.00
=121	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.04247	0.00	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.00
123	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.04036	0.00	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.02
124	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.03967	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
125	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.03964	0.00	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.00
=126	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.02124	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.00
=126	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.02124	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.00
=126	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.02124	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.00
=126	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.02124	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.00

02In 2021

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.

Highest

1Somalia0.64938
2Libya0.60923
3Kazakhstan0.60707
4Laos0.55931
5Zimbabwe0.52810

Lowest

126Norwayshared0.02124
126United Kingdomshared0.02124
126Switzerlandshared0.02124
126Australiashared0.02124
125Mexico0.03964

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 0.20254. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

Infrastructure and connectivity (contribution to the index)
Highest3 share it
Lowest27 share it
Middle country: 0.12
Electronic transactions (contribution to the index)
Highest3 share it
Lowest14 share it
Middle country: 0.02
Payment systems (contribution to the index)
Highest5 share it
Lowest62 share it
Middle country: 0.02
Intellectual property rights (contribution to the index)
Highest2 share it
Lowest86 share it
Middle country: 0.00
Other barriers to digitally enabled services trade (contribution to the index)
Highest2 share it
Lowest24 share it
Middle country: 0.02

032020 → 2021

Since 2020

+0 / −0countries joined / left
14values changed, of 129 in both
8 · 6rose · fell
115unchanged

Rose most

Zambia0.22743 → 0.38681+0.15938
Eswatini0.20510 → 0.34676+0.14166
Gabon0.18414 → 0.26420+0.08007
Burkina Faso0.14095 → 0.22030+0.07935
Russia0.30104 → 0.34495+0.04391

Fell most

Zimbabwe0.60745 → 0.52810−0.07935
China0.32583 → 0.28616−0.03967
Egypt0.40979 → 0.37012−0.03967
Comoros0.53978 → 0.51854−0.02124
Germany0.10410 → 0.08287−0.02124

04Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

One year of the 2026 release
Every year in this series comes from OECD’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method, so a change from one year to the next is not a revision. It can differ from what was first published for 2021.
107 distinct values among 129
Values are stored exactly as published, to 16 decimals. 5 countries share 0.08287. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 129 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
129 rows · 11 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download digital-trade-restrictiveness-2021-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
OECD’s own file, on its own site.
all

What this site changed: Reshaped to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full

Licence: OECD Terms and Conditions — data clause · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

OECD (2021). Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index, 2021 [data set], describing 2021. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/digital-trade-restrictiveness/2021

0612 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index, 2020
129 countries
The year after ›
Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index, 2022
129 countries
All of them
Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index: every year
12 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

This edition

The same ranking, cut differently

Behind the number

Browse

By continent

Much-read profiles

Every subject

The numbers

Reading the data