What is Micro Level

Information and communication technologies (ICT) lead to significant social and economic changes in the lives of individuals. In parallel with this change, new criteria are needed when evaluating nations' development levels. In this study, the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), the Women in Digital Index (WID), and Rural Digital Index (RDI) proposed by the European Commission were considered as the proxies of ICT. The effects of these indexes on human development and gender inequality were studied. Findings showed that there is a digital divide among EU countries. The effect of DESI on HDI is higher in developed countries than in developing countries. In addition, it was observed that the increase in the WID value affected countries with high gender inequality more, and the RDI has an impact on the development of countries.