TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan is among the world's leaders in digital development, according to a 2020 Digital Intelligence Report released by MasterCard.

In a recent study shared by the Taipei office of the American financial services company, Taiwan was ranked No. 4 for digital development in the Asia-Pacific region and No. 14 in the world. It received excellent scores in both the areas of digital evolution and digital trust, while boasting the best GDP growth rate in the world during the coronavirus outbreak in the second quarter of 2020.

Among countries in the Asia-Pacific, Taiwan came in fourth and eighth place with regard to the current environment and execution of its digital evolution, respectively. It also finished third for its level of participation in digital events, fifth for the fluency of its digital environment, and sixth for the completeness of its privacy and security mechanisms.

The report found that economies with higher digital development were able to effectively minimize the financial impact wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. It said digital transformation has allowed the Taiwanese government to distribute medical masks more efficiently and increase the use of mobile payments in the country, according to Radio Taiwan International.

In a similar World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2020 published by Swiss business school IMD in October, Taiwan achieved its best rating ever by moving up two places to No. 11. It was ranked among the top three in the world in seven of the 51 criteria.