Digital Quality of Life Index 2020

A report recently released by Surfshark puts India amongst the lowest in the world in terms of Internet Quality.

What this report is?

What is the Digital Quality of Life Index?

What parameters does it include?

We’ll be discussing it all!

Surfshark is a VPN provider based in the British Virgin Islands. It has recently released a report on Digital Quality of life Index and placed India amongst the lowest i.e. at 57^th position with DQL Index of 0.5 against the global average of 0.56.

DQL Index 2020 is a global study on the quality of digital wellbeing covering 85 countries, which accounts for 81% of the global population i.e. around 6.3 billion people. The study was first conducted last year and it will now be conducted annually.

In 2019, it was conducted across 65 countries covering only 70% of the total population and rankings were assigned based on 6 parameters i.e., affordability of connectivity, the speed of connectivity, security of citizen’s personal information, the digital advancement of a specific country in terms of its cybersecurity, the development of a country in terms of availability of e-services offered by its government and the variety of content to access. This year these 6 pillars have been condensed to 5 pillars which include - Internet Affordability, Internet Quality, Electronic Infrastructure, Electronic Government, and Electronic Security.

Internet Affordability:

Internet affordability is the amount of time people have to work to afford the internet connection, including the time of work required to afford the cheapest mobile internet as well as broadband internet.

Since affordability directly impacts the accessibility of internet connection, it also impacts the digital wellbeing of a person.

India Ranks at 9^th position in internet affordability leaving behind countries like the UK, USA, etc. with a score of 0.26 against the global average of 0.11.

 

Internet Quality:

Internet quality is another parameter, which includes how fast and stable internet connection is in a country. Internet quality includes average download speed for both broadband and mobile internet. It is also inclusive of broadband and mobile internet stability during the COVID-19 outbreak. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, 49 out of 85 countries experienced drops in mobile internet and 44 in broadband speed due to Work from Home settings.

India ranks at 78^th position which shows very poor performance of internet speed and stability in the country with a score of 0.53 against the global average of 0.66.

 

Electronic Infrastructure:

Electronic infrastructure includes how developed and inclusive is the existing infrastructure which involves Active internet users (per 100 inhabitants indexed) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) adoption rate.

Highly developed infrastructure enables people to use the internet more in their daily lives thereby increasing the digital well-being. India ranks 79^th with a score of 0.35 against the global average of 0.7.

 

Electronic Security:

Electronic security involves how safe and secure people can feel in a country while using the internet which includes cybersecurity and the status of personal data protection. Higher electronic security encourages people to use more internet with confidence and thus improves their digital wellbeing.

India ranks at 57^th with a score of 0.46 against the global average of 0.59.

 

Electronic Government:

This parameter involves how advanced and digitized is a country’s governmental services i.e. government’s online presence and readiness to employ artificial intelligence technology. Increased internet usage by the government is expected to reduce corruption and enhance transparency thereby increasing the digital wellbeing of its citizens.

Surprisingly India has fared well on this parameter as it stands at 15^th position with a score of 0.88 against the global average of 0.72.

 

All these parameters aside, although GDP per capita is expected to have a strong connection with DQL Index, some countries have better DQL Index with lower GDP per capita than expected. Countries like Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Uruguay, Slovakia, Romania, etc. have outperformed other countries by providing higher levels of e-security and more affordable internet connectivity whereas countries like Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia with relatively higher GDP per capita are underperforming.

Major takeaways from the report tell that 7 out of 10 countries with the highest DQL Index are in Europe. Also, there is high inequality in affordability i.e. people in 75% of the researched countries have to work more than the global average to afford the internet.

 Looking at India’s rank, there is a long way to go to improve our digital well-being. Internet Quality and Electronic infrastructure need to be improved. Our government is focusing on Made in India and Reliance Jio announcing to develop 5G solutions in India may give a ray of hope to improve on these parameters, but we are yet to see if they can help develop India to be at par with countries ranking way higher!