Relationship Between Digitalization and Living Standards in European Union Countries

The purpose of this article is to determine the relationship between digitalization and living standards in individual countries of the European Union. To assess the level of digitalization, the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) is used. Based on the analysis of the index for 2022, two groups of countries were identified. The first group included 14 countries with high rates of digital development. The second group is represented by 13 countries with digital indicators below the average for the European Union. The paper proposes a hypothesis about the presence of a positive correlation between digitalization and the standard of living of the population. To test the hypothesis, a correlation-regression analysis was carried out using indicators of digitalization and an indicator of the relative standard of living of the population for 2017–2022 in six countries selected from two different groups. Based on the results of the analysis, the presence of a direct relationship between digitalization and the standard of living of the population was confirmed. At the same time, a different degree of influence of factors characterizing digitalization on the standard of living in European Union countries has been established. The center of growth in countries with a high Digital Economy and Society Index lies in the increase in the network and the speed of information transfer. In countries with a lower level of digitalization, the center of growth is the integration of digital technologies. In addition, it was found that the correlation between the analyzed indicators is stronger in countries with a high level of digitalization, such as Finland, Denmark, and the Netherlands. The paper also provides a justification for the need to implement intelligent digital devices, considering the influence of the energy factor on the standard of living of the population.