One-Third Of Humanity Has Never Touched The Internet, New Report Says

An astounding 37 percent of people have never used the internet, worsening issues like poverty and illiteracy in an increasingly digital world.

You Are Reading :OneThird Of Humanity Has Never Touched The Internet New Report Says

A staggering 2.9 billion people — accounting for roughly 37% of the world’s entire population — have never experienced what the internet is all about, says a new report by a specialized agency of the United Nations. In a world where quantum computing dreams are taking a step towards becoming a reality and companies like Facebook are busy laying the foundations of an altogether virtual world using AR and VR as the stepping stones, the digital divide is very much a real problem.

The United Nations has repeatedly talked about the issue of a deep digital divide in the past few years. While the stakeholders engage in a tussle over privacy, data governance, and freedom of expression, there still remains a huge segment that hasn’t experienced the internet at all. Augmented reality pioneer Louis Rosenberg recently touched on the issue in a prescient essay, predicting that the metaverse will alienate people who can’t afford expensive hardware in the immediate future.

As per the findings of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), approximately 37% of the world’s population is still offline and hasn’t experienced the benefits (or drawbacks) of being connected to the internet. Standing at a staggering 2.9 billion people who are total strangers to the internet, the data shows just how profoundly unequal internet access remains. An overwhelming 97 percent share of this internet-deprived population is concentrated in developing countries. “Many of these ‘digitally excluded’ face formidable challenges including poverty, illiteracy, limited access to electricity, and lack of digital skills and awareness,” the report outlines. Initiatives like Project Taara by Google’s parent company have tried to beam internet via light in remote areas of the globe to avoid infrastructure constraints, but these moves are far from democratizing internet access to a meaningful extent.

The flagship @ITU Facts and Figures 2021 reveals that despite strong global growth in #Internet use, an estimated 37 % of the world’s population – or 2.9 billion people – are still offline. To truly #LeaveNoOneBehind we must connect #theUNconnected.https://t.co/TgroS2Qmqq pic.twitter.com/0LoETafnnG

An Unattainable Luxury For A Third Of Humanity

Another highlight of the ITU report is the stark difference between network availability and the ability to actually network. While 95 percent of the entire global population can theoretically access 3G or 4G networks, billions of them are unable to connect with each other because they lack access to the hardware allowing it. Coming online can be an expensive endeavor, and in some of the poorest countries in the world, it can cost up to 20 percent (or higher) of the gross national income (GNI) per capita. But strides are being made, both at corporate as well as government levels. Google recently partnered with Indian telecom giant Jio to launch an ultra-affordable 4G smartphone. The goal here, per the two companies, is to bring hundreds of millions online for the first time.

The ITU report also touches upon the ‘COVID connectivity boost’ that exposed a batch of 782 million to the internet for the first time, driven by the need to access news, education, government services, commerce, and banking, all of which shifted online due to the pandemic. From a gender perspective, men lead with 62 percent share of them being able to access the internet, while only 57 percent of women globally have the luxury of going online. In a world where people can debate whether owning an iPhone makes them a digital slave of trillionaire corporations, the state of a digital divide only worsens issues such as poverty and illiteracy that are plaguing a large share of the global population.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/what-percentage-of-humans-are-online-internet-access/