Inclusive Internet Index 2019

The Inclusive Internet Index 2019 was prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for Facebook. The ‘Inclusive Internet’ score was based on the scores of availability, affordability, relevance and readiness categories.
The 2019 Index evaluated 100 countries, representing 94 per cent of the world’s population and 96 per cent of global GDP.

Findings of the Inclusive Internet Index 2019 Report

• Sweden has topped the rankings followed by Singapore and the US.
• India has been ranked 47th.
• Men have more Internet access than women globally but low and lower middle income countries narrowed the gender gap in 2018.
• The UK, Namibia, Ireland, Austria, Chile and South Africa are the top performers of the year in terms of gender equality. All these countries had female digital skills training plans.
• The report notes that Inclusion for women and those with disabilities have improved, with low income and lower-middle-income countries driving the progress.
• The report notes that the affordability is declining relative to monthly income in many countries. This is disproportionately affecting women and people in low-income countries who are more reliant on mobile as their primary means of accessing the Internet.
• The percentage of households connected to the Internet globally increased, on average from 53.1 per cent to 54.8 per cent, the rate of growth in Internet connections slowed to 2.9 per cent in 2019 from 7.7 per cent in 2018.
• Fixed-line Internet access is too expensive or inaccessible in some countries, as a result, mobile services are critical in these regions.
• The lower-middle-income countries made a significant 66 per cent improvement in 4G coverage and low-income countries witnessed a moderate 22 per cent improvement.
• Web accessibility standards have also improved. The improvements were led by low and lower middle income countries.
• There are about 3.8 billion people around the world without fast and reliable Internet access.
• Even though the overall gap between those with access to the Internet and those without narrowed, the lowest income countries fell behind because they improved at a slower rate than other countries and much slower than last year.
• Internet connections in low-income countries increased by marginal 0.8 per cent compared to 65.1 per cent last year.
• More than half (52.2 per cent) of respondents said they are not confident about their online privacy.
• Majority of respondents (74.4 per cent) think the Internet has been the most effective tool for finding jobs

The report highlights that there are demonstrable benefits from comprehensive female e-inclusion policies, digital skills programmes and targets for women and girls to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2019