Lebanon ranked 64th among 151 countries, 16th among 39 middle to high income countries, and 6th among 19 Arab countries, according to the 2018 edition of the UNCTAD Business-to-Consumer (B2C) E-commerce Index. Last year to recall, Lebanon ranked 56th globally, 13th among middle to high income states and 4th regionally. UNCTAD has developed the indicator to measure the preparedness of countries to engage in e-commerce according to 7 indices which are: internet penetration rate, number of secure internet servers per one million people, frequency rate of electronic payments and the reliability of postal services. The index has shown that the internet penetration rate in Lebanon reached 83% in 2018, which is the 26th highest rate globally and 4th among Arab countries covered by the survey, noting that Lebanon came higher than the global rate which is 54%, the rate of middle to high income countries which is 60.9% and the regional rate of 56.3%. The index also revealed that there are 47 secure internet providers per one million people in Lebanon, compared to 55.7 servers per one million people worldwide, 58.3 servers for middle to high income countries and 42.3 servers per one million people regionally. The number of internet providers per one million residents in Lebanon is the 92nd highest worldwide, the 31st highest among middle to high income countries and the 10th among Arab countries. (Al Mustaqbal, December 18, 2018)
