Big equality gaps in the access to internet, says UN

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 03/12/2021

Access to the internet still differs widely between rich and poor countries and  considerably more men than women use the internet. The number of people who have used the Internet is estimated to be 4.9 billion, up from 4.1 billion in 2019 but 37% of the world’s population – 2.9 billion people – have still never used the internet. Globally, an average of 62% of men use the Internet compared with 57% of women.

The data are from UN’s International Telecommunication Union’s  (ITU) annual report. The organization concludes that “the ability to connect remains profoundly unequal.

– Although the digital gender divide has been narrowing in all world regions and has been virtually eliminated in the developed world (89%of men and 88% of women online) wide gaps remain in Least Developed Countries (31% of men compared to just 19% of women) and in Landlocked Developing Countries (38% of men compared to 27% of women).

– The gender divide remains particularly pronounced in Africa (35% of men compared to 24% of women) and the Arab States (68% of men compared to 56% of women).

INFREQUENT ACCESS

Of the 2.9 billion still offline, an estimated 96 per cent live in developing countries. And even among the 4.9 billion counted as ‘Internet users’, many hundreds of millions may only get the chance to go online infrequently, via shared devices, or using connectivity speeds that markedly limit the usefulness of their connection, ITU says.

“While almost two-thirds of the world’s population is now online, there is a lot more to do to get everyone connected to the Internet,” says ITU Secretary General Houlin Zhao. “ITU will work with all parties to make sure that the building blocks are in place to connect the remaining 2.9 billion. We are determined to ensure no one will be left behind.”

“COVID CONNECTIVITY”

ITU says the unusually sharp rise in the number of people online suggests that measures taken during the pandemic – such as widespread lockdowns and school closures, combined with people’s need for access to news, government services, health updates, e-commerce and online banking – contributed to a ‘COVID connectivity boost’ that has brought an estimated 782 million additional people online since 2019, an increase of 17%.

“Strong growth since 2019 was largely driven by increases in developing countries, where Internet penetration climbed more than 13%. In the 46 UN-designated Least Developed Countries (LDCs), the average increase exceeded 20%”.

 – Globally, people in urban areas are twice as likely to use the Internet than those in rural areas (76% urban compared to 39% rural).

– In developed economies, the urban-rural gap appears negligible in terms of Internet usage (with 89% of people in urban areas having used the Internet in the last three months, compared to 85% in rural areas), whereas in developing countries, people in urban areas are twice as likely to use the Internet as those in rural areas (72% urban compared to 34% rural).

GENERATION GAP

 – On average, 71% of the world’s population aged 15-24 is using the Internet, compared with 57% of all other age groups.

– This generational gap is reflected across all regions. It is most pronounced in the LDCs, where 34% of young people are connected, compared with only 22% of the rest of the population.

– Affordability of devices and services remains a major barrier. The widely accepted target for affordable broadband connectivity in developing countries sets the cost of an entry-level mobile broadband package at 2% of gross national income (GNI) per capita. Yet in some of the world’s poorest nations, getting online can cost 20% or more of per capita GNI.

– Lack of digital skills and an appreciation of the benefits of an online connection is another bottleneck, compounded by a lack of content in local languages, as well as by interfaces that demand literacy and numeracy skills that many people do not possess.