In my previous article, I argued that the gap in IT spending between the developed and developing worlds is not as great as it first appears.

I took the example of Indonesia spending just $77 per person annually on IT, according to World Bank figures, compared to to $2,728 in Japan, $3,379 in the US, and $4,628 in Switzerland, the world leader.

I then looked at how these annual spends compare with per-person (aka per capita) income. In Japan, that $2,729 represents 6.9% of the country's per capita income of $32,400. In Indonesia, that $77 represents 3.3% of the country's per capita income of $4,205.

In other words, if Indonesia doubled its IT spending, it would approach the relative level that Japan spends. Doing so is no easy task, but looking at things this way presents a far more optimistic view than simply noting that $2,729 is more than 35 times $77.

Beating Japan
And in fact, there are several countries in the ASEAN region that nearly match Japan's relative spend, and one - Malaysia - which beats it all to hell by allocating 11.7% of its per capita income to IT.

Viewing the Top 10 countries in the world by this measure - percentage of per capita income spent on IT - reveals an extraordinary picture. Malaysia holds down second place, losing out only to..wait for it..Morocco, which spends an amount equal to 13.8% of its per capita income on IT.

Another Northern African country, Senegal, finishes third, at 10.4%. (I place Senegal in Northern, rather than Western Africa due to its Muslim culture - in this case, Sufism.)

Following these Big Three come South Africa, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Honduras, Hungary, South Korea, and the UK.

Two highly developed places - Hong Kong and the UK - in the Top 10, along with Asian dynamos South Korea and Malaysia, Eastern European star Hungary, and fast-developing South Africa.

But one has to be surprised - pleasantly so - to see Honduras, Morocco, and Senegal on this list.

The United States finishes 12^th, just ahead of Switzerland, which leads the world with a total spend of $4,628 per person.

Laggards
Who is lagging? The BRIC countries, to name one group. Among the 73 countries for which I was able to find data, India finishes in the bottom 10, spending only $46 or 4.0% of its per capita income on IT. Certainly this reflects the country's ongoing struggle to address the needs of a population exceeding a billion people.

Russia is 56^th (at $409 and 4.7%), with Brazil next (at $380 and 4.7%). China finishes 40^th, at $196 and 5.2%.

A minor surprise is to find oil-rich Norway a notch below India - the country is penalized for its exceedingly high per capita income of $79,000.

And Indonesia? Well, it's in the Bottom 10, five places below India. That $77 per person isn't enough no matter how we look at it.

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