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Nearly 15 Percent Won't Meet the Year 2000 Deadline
According to the Millennium Index compiled by Cap Gemini, one-in-seven organizations in Europe and the United States
will not be able to complete its Year 2000 work on time. The cost of fixing the Year 2000 problem is estimated to be
$717 billion in the United States and Europe, with the U.S. accounting for over 70 percent of this figure at $520 billion. To
date, only $199 billion (28 percent of the total) has been spent.
There are major differences in how much work has been completed in each country. With the U.S. farthest ahead, having
spent 30.9 percent of the expected Y2K budget, the UK 26.3 percent, Norway 22.3 percent and France 21 percent. At
the other end of the scale, Finland has spent only 15 percent of its estimated budget, with Italy at 16 percent, the
Netherlands at 17 percent and Germany at 16.9 percent.
The large differences may be accounted for by analyzing the significant variations in the costs anticipated by the Index of
fixing the Millennium problem in each country. In countries, such as Germany, Great Britain and the United States, each of
these countries expect to at least reach 76 percent or greater in terms of expenditure for Year 2000 compliance. The
countries at the lower end of the scale, such as France and Spain, are only expected to spend less than 25 percent of their
annual IT budgets. These figures indicate that some countries may be in danger of underestimating the scale of the problem
ahead.
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