The US drops from fifth to 12th place in Surfshark’s annual Digital Quality of Life (DQL) Index.
Surfshark’s Digital Quality of Life (DQL) Index rating is a good way to track the ups and downs of modern digital life on a country-by-country basis. The company has been publishing the research with pretty much the same methodology and criteria since 2019, albeit adding more countries each year. In 2020, we covered it and found the US placed 22nd on the list. Last year, it jumped up to a respectable 5th place.
This year, however, the US took a nosedive. It’s not as bad as it was two years ago, but the US isn’t even in the top 10 anymore. It’s now in 12th place out of 117 countries, so we’re still within the top 10%. Most of the rest of the top 10 are in Europe; that list also includes South Korea (10th), Japan (8th), and in the number-one position this year, Israel. Denmark, which came first in the previous two years, dropped to number two.
The DQI is based on several pillars that Surfshark quantifies into a final index. Each of the five factors has its own score.
Read the article by Eric Griffith in PC Mag.