As of Friday, a third of the world’s population was still without an internet connection as the speed of new connections slowed, according to figures released by the United Nations.
About 5.3 billion people worldwide are currently using the Internet, and while growth remains promising, the trend is that in the absence of new investment in infrastructure and new momentum to absorb digital skills, the International Telecommunication Union said in a statement. New, there are opportunities. To connect the entire world population by 2030 is increasingly decreasing.
While this year, 2.7 billion people still cannot access the Internet, this figure was 3 billion in 2021 and 3.6 billion in 2019, before the Corona pandemic.
UN Secretary-General Hulin Zhao emphasized that this “has given us a good boost in terms of connectivity, but we need to maintain the same pace to ensure that everyone benefits from digital services.”
“This is only possible through greater investment in networks, digital technologies, rules inspired by best models and training processes,” Zhao said, according to AFP.
The ITU identified two major obstacles to its goal of fully connecting the world’s population: reaching the population that remains offline is also the most difficult, as well as the difficulties of transitioning from simple network access to normal and easy access.
The union believes that barriers are often underestimated: very low connection speeds, very high prices for equipment and subscriptions, lack of digital literacy or even cultural and language barriers, but also gender discrimination and sometimes lack of access to electricity.
There are stark differences between regions, with Africa still the least connected of the six EU regions, with 40% of the population having an internet connection, compared to 70% in Arab countries.
In the Asia Pacific region, internet penetration has increased from 61% in 2021 to 64% this year.
The Americas, the Commonwealth of Nations and Europe record rates of more than 80%.
The old continent is connected to the Internet with 89% of its population.
Source: Lebanon Debate
