2.7 billion people… A third of the world’s population is still deprived of access to the Internet today and the rate of new connections has slowed down, according to the latest UN statistics published on Friday.
“Some 5.3 billion people around the world now use the Internet and while growth continues to be encouraging, the trend suggests that without new investment in infrastructure and a new impetus to generate new digital skills , the chances of connecting the world’s population by 2030 seem increasingly slim,” said in a statement. the international telecommunications union (IUT).
The pandemic has given “a good boost in terms of connectivity”
If this year 2.7 billion people still do not have access, they were still 3 billion in 2021 and 3.6 billion in 2019, just before the Covid-19 pandemic. This “gave us a good boost in terms of connectivity, but we must maintain the same pace to ensure that everyone can benefit” from digital, underlined Houlin Zhao, the secretary general of the United Nations organization.
“This can only be achieved with more investment in digital networks and technologies, best-example regulation and training,” he added.
Still many obstacles
The IUT has identified two main obstacles to its goal of a fully connected global population: populations that are still unconnected are also the most difficult to reach and the difficulties in moving from simple access to regular and easy access .
The ITU believes that the obstacles are often underestimated, such as: connection speeds that are too slow, prices that are too high for equipment and subscriptions, the lack of digital culture or even cultural and linguistic barriers, but also the discrimination of gender and sometimes the simple lack of access to electricity.
Strong regional disparities
“While the increase in the number of people using the Internet around the world is encouraging, we cannot simply guarantee that the strong growth observed in recent years will continue,” warned the American Doreen Bogdan-Martin, director in charge of development.
Regional disparities remain strong. Africa is the least connected of the six ITU regions, with 40% of the population online, in the Arab countries this rate is 70%. In Asia-Pacific, the internet penetration rate has increased from 61% in 2021 to 64% this year. The Americas, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Europe show rates of over 80%. The Old Continent comes first with 89% of its population connected.