Digital divide and digital opportunity
Digitalisation is a global mega-trend, affecting all aspects of our work at DRC, as well as the lives of displaced populations. With a greater part of their lives taking place in the digital sphere, we need to include digitalisation in our actions, in order to continue providing protection and support to the fullest of our capabilities.
Some numbers:
- 4.5 bn internet users globally (59% of global population)
- 4g networks are accessible to 85% of the world’s population
- High speed internet rolled out globally (exponential trajectories) - even space-based internet
- Marginal costs of internet services declining
- Hardware barriers are lowering
- ‘Crash course’-effect of Covid-19 – lives moving online, education, working remote, shopping online and banking online, etc.
- Massive skills development as a result
- Massive investments into digital
- As we are increasingly ‘living online’ – the price of being disconnected increases
Noticeable digital gaps
- 1% of world’s population is displaced – 32% of these under 18 years old
- For many refugees – its natural to calculate Wi-Fi cost into rent because it is such an essential service
- Research has found that forcibly displaced spent up to 1/3 of their disposable income to get connected to internet
- Despite this, refugees are 50% more likely to be left without connectivity
- Gender gap: Men in low-income countries are 90% more likely to own a mobile phone than women
- Lacking infrastructure in developing countries contributes to the divide
- The gap between information-rich and information-poor societies
- Digital divide can mean segregation in societies of individuals (ethnicity, age, race and gender)
- Limited (and expensive) internet access is a barrier for young people, and especially those displaced, to equally pursue opportunities