ICTs and Sustainable Development: A Data‐Driven Fuzzy Analysis With Middle East and North Africa ( MENA ) Evidence and a Tunisia Case

ABSTRACT This paper quantifies the net contribution of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to sustainable development using the latest World Development Indicators (WDI) in a country–year panel (2000 to each country's most recent year). We combine panel econometrics with a data‐driven fuzzy inference system to model ICTs' enabling effects (efficiency, inclusion, dematerialization) alongside their footprints (energy use, materials, e‐waste), with attention to rebound dynamics. In a MENA‐wide sample, we construct an interpretable, policy‐oriented Fuzzy Net‐Sustainability Gain (FNSG) index from WDI‐only inputs and estimate heterogeneous associations moderated by electricity mix and access conditions. Results indicate that ICTs' net sustainability effect is conditional rather than uniform: cleaner power and broad, reliable access are associated with more favorable outcomes, whereas carbon‐intensive grids or exclusion constraints mute gains. A Tunisia case study applies the same measurement and fuzzy logic to current levels, trajectories, and counterfactuals; joint scenarios that deepen fixed broadband while increasing the renewable share yield the largest net gains. Findings are robust to quasi‐balanced windows, alternative standard errors, and membership shapes, and they translate into concrete levers for “greening the digital stack” while amplifying enablement.