DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SOCIETY IN THE CONTEXT OF GROWING GDP

Abstract

Over the decade the development of information society to a large extent has been determined by the Lisbon Strategy and the job as initiated in it: the European Council and the European Commission are invited to prepare a comprehensive and exhaustive Action Plan for Electronic Europe eEurope. Over the decade both the eEurope Initiative and the eEurope 2005 Action Plan as well as other documents as prepared in this fi eld and the newest document – the i2010 Strategy – have determined the development of information society in the whole European Union, including Lithuania. Of particular importance is the i2010 Strategy – a strategy for digital technologies as intended for growth and job creation. The European Commission’s Annual Progress Reports – being very signifi cant documents – are helpful in assessing the achieved results as well as specifying plans for further works, activity directions and pace. The fi rst report of this kind assessing progress in the implementation of the i2010 Strategy has already appeared.
Lithuania over eighteen years of its independence has made a tremendous progress both in developing its economy and creating as well as evolving country’s information society. Creating Long-Term Development Strategy of the State of Lithuania, the Lisbon Strategy was taken into account, whereas creating the Strategy for Information Society Development in addition to other documents related with information society development in Lithuania, the mentioned European documents as intended for the information society development were taken into account. Undoubtedly, the creation and development of information society to some extent depend on a country’s level of economic development, which is partly characterised by GDP (gross domestic product).
This article deals with the newest indicators for the information society development in Lithuania and their relation with GDP, - what indicators are in Lithuania and how they look like in comparison with countries of various development level.