The continent has the world’s lowest levels of connectivity due to a lack of infrastructure
Less than 40% of people living in Africa have internet access, a report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has shown.
While connectivity has been increasing globally, with about 5.4 billion people or 67% of the world’s population currently online, only 37% of the population in Africa use the internet, according to ITU’s Facts and Figures 2023 study.
This represents a decline in internet users compared to 2022, when the figure was around 40%. The continent currently has the lowest internet penetration in the world.
Meanwhile, about 90% of the population in Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and North and South Americas use the internet, the data showed.
“Steady but uneven progress in global internet connectivity highlights the disparities of the digital divide and is leaving people in low-income countries behind,” the authors of the report noted.
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The researchers cited lengthy power outages and a lack of digital infrastructure coverage in Africa as the main reasons for the poor connectivity.
The ITU study also revealed that in low-income countries not only do fewer people have internet access but those who are connected use less data.
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