Given its leading role in the collection and dissemination of telecommunication and ICT statistics worldwide, ITU is naturally well placed to develop a statistical tool that would allow countries to benchmark their information societies globally and regionally. With the revolutionary spread of ICTs during the past two decades, and the resulting impact on societies and economies, international calls for monitoring and benchmarking have increased. At the same time, since the turn of the century the availability of Internet-related data globally has increased, making it feasible to construct a composite index that combines several indicators into one single statistical value and compare it over a number of years. This is when ITU’s work on composite indices began.