China ranked 46th, up 11 places from last year, in the annual Networked Readiness Index ranking released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Thursday.

China took the lead of the so-called "BRIC" emerging economies for the first time, the WEF said.

The other three "BRIC" economies -- Brazil, Russia and India --ranked 59th, 74th and 54th respectively.

Denmark and Sweden once again lead the ranking.

They were followed by the United States, which moved up one position from last year, thus confirming its pre-eminence in networked readiness in the current economic slowdown, the WEF said in a statement.

Singapore, Switzerland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Netherlands and Canada were among the rest of the top 10 of a list of 134 economies worldwide.

The Networked Readiness Index examines how prepared economies are to use information and communications technology effectively. It uses a combination of data from publicly available sources, as well as the results of an annual Executive Opinion Survey.

"The development story of the most networked countries in the world...has owed much to a consistent focus in the national agenda on education excellence, innovation and an extensive ICT access," said Irene Mia, WEF senior economist.

"This success stands as a reminder for leaders in both the public and private sectors not to lose focus on ICT as an important enabler of growth and competitiveness in times of crisis," she said.