As for numbers, Malta is confirmed top of the rankings (28.2). By contrast, France and Cyprus have shown the sharpest decrease in the period 2020-2022, while Greece comes last also for this indicator. Surprisingly, among the most industrialised countries, French companies, followed by their Italian counterparts, were those that undertook the lowest number of training activities in digital technologies. Values recorded over time from Spain are also worthy of note: ever-diminishing ICT training investments contrast with the country’s overall level of digitalization and its good overall DESI performance, which was outperformed only by Malta (see fig. 1). As for the average position of EuroMed countries in comparison to that of EU countries, the Med country average is substantially aligned with the European mean. The box plot shows, however, that the pandemic has not contributed to convergence among the countries analysed. Rather, lack of homogeneity in their values has increased over time and was particularly marked in the shift from 2020 to 2022.

As regards connectivity, continuous and sustained growth can be noted in the period considered for all EuroMed countries. Once again, it is Spain (69.7) which experiences the most sustained growth, followed by France (64.2) and, quite surprisingly, Italy (61.2). The most significant increase is recorded by Cyprus which rose from 23.9 to 58.8 in the period 2020-2022. Instead, Portugal recorded the lowest growth (26.1 to 51.6 in the period 2017-2022). Italy, occupying third place, stands out as being very well positioned in terms of digital infrastructures while it is far behind in the formation of human capital (see figure 2). At the bottom of the ranking, we find Greece (49.6) followed by Croatia (48.1). It should be noted that the growth of connectivity among the Med countries is substantially in line with that recorded for the average of EU countries. Only in the starting year, 2017, were the analysed countries, on average, slightly behind the EU mean. ¶{p. 203}The box plot shows that the pandemic has contributed to reduce the gap among EuroMed countries in their level of connectivity, such that convergence has actually been maintained.

Figures 7, 8 and 9 allow a finer-grained analysis of this dimension, breaking it down into some basic indicators, namely: «the overall fixed broadband take-up» (related to the sub-dimension «fixed broadband take-up») and «the mobile broadband take-up» and «5G coverage» (both related to the sub-dimension «mobile broadband»).

With regard to the consumption behaviour of households, subscriptions for fixed broadband connections have been growing rapidly over the years. All countries, except Slovenia, have seen an increase over time in the number of families who have subscribed to take advantage of a higher bandwidth. Some countries, notably Cyprus, Greece and Portugal, have witnessed a more marked increase over time. In 2022, Cyprus ranked first (91.8 per cent), followed by Malta (88 per cent) while Italy came last (65.7 per cent). Among the most industrialised EuroMed countries, Spain (82.9 per cent) and France (79.5 per cent) are at the top of the ranking. The EuroMed mean is substantially in line with the European mean and the variability, as shown by the boxplot, among the different countries does not appear to decrease over the years, with the exception of Italy which, in the last year surveyed (2022), is particularly distant from the rest of the Med and EU countries, being an outlier.

Looking at figure 8, it can be immediately noted that, in comparison to subscriptions for fixed broadband connections, those related to mobile broadband connections are a little higher for all countries and that all countries recorded a more marked increase over time. In particular, Spain improved its position, with almost 94 per cent of the Spanish population having a subscription to a mobile broadband data service, followed by Cyprus (90.7 per cent) and France (87.6 per cent). Also for this indicator, Italy lies bottom, with only 65.7 per cent of people subscribing to a mobile broadband connection. Interestingly, Greece shows a very different performance in comparison to fixed BB take-up (fig. 7) as it moved from fourth in the EuroMed ranking to bottom in the case of Mobile BB take-up (fig. 8).