Assessment of candidate countries Myanmar was assessed against Zambia, Kenya and Vietnam using the input factors used for the UNCTAD Consumer E-commerce Index: Share of individuals using the internet, share of individuals with a (money) account, a normalised indication of the number of secure internet servers in a country (a proxy for the level of IT development in the country), and the UPU postal reliability score. UNCTAD has determined that these factors are significant in determining the level of consumer e-commerce in a country. Therefore, they can be used as a high-level determinant of a country’s strengths and weaknesses relative to e-commerce. Indeed, an e-commerce strategy is intended to improve a country’s performance in these and other input factors. The assessment also covered the other selected Asian states, to determine any potential issues with this benchmark. The benchmark result is shown in graphical form in Figure 3-5 and in tabular form in Table 3-1. Each show the results in order of GDP per capital on a PPP basis from lower to higher. Figure 3-5: E-commerce penetration related to input factors14 14 UNCTAD, World Bank and ITU data for Kenya for the year 2017 69