EVALUATING THE INFORMATION SOCIETY IN ROMANIA

The Information Society involves intensive the use of information in all areas of activity and has significant social and economic impact. This study aims to measure the information society in Romania and to compare the results with those registered by the other 28 member states. In order to measure the information society in Romania three methods will be applied: first of all we will measure the influence of information and communication technologies (ICT) on GDP, afterwards we will use the indicators from the ICT Development Index (IDI) to compare the results registered in Romania with the average registered in the European Union and in the end we will present the cost and affordability of ICT services using ICT Pricebasket. Even though Romania registered some improvements and followed the EU trend we are still far below the European average being almost in the last place at all indicators investigated. In order to earn a better place, Romania should implement a series of policies, following the directions proposed by the European Commission in 2010.