Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) 2012 Rankings for Islamic Countries and Assessment of KEI Indicators for Pakistan

This paper presents Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) rankings 2012 for 42 Islamic countries extracted from the World Bank’s Knowledge Assessment Methodology (KAM). Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) is an aggregate index representing a country’s overall preparedness to compete in the Knowledge Economy (KE). The KEI is constructed as the simple average of four sub-indexes, which represents the four pillars of the knowledge economy: economic incentive and institutional regime, education and human resources, the innovation system and ICT. Each of the pillar sub- indexes are in turn based on three indicators that proxy the performance of the pillar. 12 knowledge indicators have been used to compile the four pillars of the KEI. Pakistan’s performance on the aggregate KEI (consisting of four pillars) and on individual indicators is compared with Islamic countries between 2000 and 2012. Pakistan’s knowledge competitiveness has improved over the past 12 years, with the ranking rising from 122nd in 2000 to 117th in the current 2012 rankings. Pakistan has progressed in KEI pillars. In the pillar of Economic Incentive Regime (EIR) the country improved and ranked at 124. In the pillar of Information Communications and Technology (ICT) Pakistan demonstrated a significant improvement and ranked at 97th in the world in terms of the ICT pillar ranking. In Education pillar, Pakistan’s performance with rank of 126 is far below and is significantly lagging the other Islamic countries. In Innovation pillar, Pakistan improved its overall performance with rank of 110, but it still remains significantly weak when compared to other Islamic economies.