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The unconnected

Been thinking about this – connectivity and literacy.

An estimated 37 per cent of the world’s population – or 2.9 billion people – have still never used the Internet.

New data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), also reveal strong global growth in Internet use, with the estimated number of people who have used the Internet surging to 4.9 billion in 2021, from an estimated 4.1 billion in 2019.

From International Telecommunication Union.

Yet, “71 per cent of the world’s population aged 15-24 is using the Internet, compared with 57 per cent of all other age groups.”

Why is this so?

95 per cent of people in the world could theoretically access a 3G or 4G mobile broadband network, billions of them do not connect. 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 per cent of gross national income (GNI) per capita. Yet in some of the world’s poorest nations, getting online can cost a staggering 20 per cent or more of per capita GNI. 

Read more in the ITU report.

January 31st, 2023

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