According to Oxford Insights' 2025 Government AI Readiness Index, Azerbaijan rose from 111th to 70th place, Report informs.
The country's overall score was 48.96. This compares to 39.92 in 2024.
Azerbaijan scored the following in the individual categories of the index: "Policy Capacity" - 53.5, "AI Infrastructure" - 46.21, "Governance" - 50, "Public Sector Adoption" - 66.97, "Development and Diffusion" - 34.73, and "Resilience" - 58.27.
Azerbaijan ranks first in the index among the countries of the South Caucasus and third among the countries of Central Asia. Thus, Armenia ranked 108th with a score of 37.17, Georgia ranked 84th (43.1), Kazakhstan ranked 60th (55.86), Uzbekistan ranked 62nd (54.69), Tajikistan ranked 135th (27.37), Kyrgyzstan ranked 116th (33.69), and Turkmenistan ranked 166th (20.75).
Overall, in the South and Central Asia region (the region's global rank is 6th, with an average score of 41.41), Azerbaijan ranked 5th, behind India (67.9), Türkiye (58.1), Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. At the same time, the country is ahead of such countries as Bangladesh (47.4), Pakistan (46), Sri Lanka (44.4), Bhutan (38.6), Nepal (37.5), Maldives (25.9), Afghanistan (16.4).
"The South and Central Asia region is an exciting microcosm of the global AI landscape. Countries such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are focusing heavily on accelerating their AI readiness - investing in digital and AI infrastructure, talent, and international collaborations. India is also carving an important path, leveraging its strong domestic digital public infrastructure - and sizable human capital - to advance the ‘INDIAai" mission. The country's hosting of the 2026 AI Summit will be an important milestone. Elsewhere in the region, countries including Armenia, Bhutan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Türkiye are strengthening their AI infrastructure, building digital and innovation ecosystems, and exploring a wide range of different AI interventions and use-cases," reads the message.
The authors note that the region's comparative improvement in global rankings is also driven by the active use of AI by national governments in the public sector.
"More widely, the region's focus on e-Government delivery has been recognised for a number of years. Building on these important strengths, the region is continuing to augment its compute capacity and also exploring ways to strengthen local innovation ecosystems. These interventions will ensure that the region will be well-placed for future AI readiness," reads the update.