Nigeria Ranks 82 In Digital Quality Of Life Index

• Nigeria ranks 82 among 110 countries in the world’s Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL) 2021.
• Cybersecurity Company, Surfshark, conducts annual research on the quality of digital wellbeing in 110 countries, 90% of the global population.

 

Ekohotblog reports that Nigeria has ranked 82nd among 110 countries in the world’s Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL) 2021 conducted by Surfshark, a cybersecurity company.

 

The new study evaluates 90 per cent of the global population based on a set of five fundamental digital wellbeing pillars – internet affordability and quality, e-infrastructure, e-security, and e-government.

 

According to the DQL Index 2021, Nigeria dropped by 1 in the DQL ranking but is still the best in Western Africa.

 

The study shows that “Nigeria lags with internet affordability (ranks 107th), e-government (95th), and e-infrastructure (90th), but shows similar to the global average results in internet quality (56th) and e-security (46th).

 

“Despite the slight fall in the leader board, the country comes first in Western Africa and shows slightly better results in some pillars than the global average. Its e-security is among the TOP 50 worldwide, surpassing Africa’s DQL leader South Africa.”

 

It ranked Nigeria at 56th position in the internet quality index due to low internet speeds. Nigeria has one of the slowest broadband connection speeds globally (13.45 Mbps), ranking 105th, and slightly faster mobile internet (17.91 Mbps), and ranking 96th. However, the country’s broadband speed growth is one of the fastest on the planet, ranking 16th.

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The study shows that Nigeria’s internet affordability is 90% worse than the global average. People in Nigeria have to work the most time in the world – more than 35 hours – to afford the cheapest broadband internet. The country’s e-government also does not make it to the TOP 90th, falling behind Senegal, Morocco, and Tanzania.

 

Vytautas Kaziukonis, CEO of Surfshark said, “Digital opportunities have proved to be more important than ever during the COVID-19 crisis, stressing the importance for every country to ensure fully remote operational capacities for their economies. That is why, for the third year in a row, we continue the Digital Quality of Life research, which provides a robust global outlook into how countries excel digitally. The index sets the basis for meaningful discussions about how digital advancement impacts a country’s prosperity and where improvements can be made.”

 

The report concluded that broadband is globally less affordable this year; only 78 out of 110 countries enjoy stable broadband connections.

 

“Comparing countries included in the last year’s index, people have to work 11% more (25 min) to afford broadband internet in 2021. However, people have to work 29% less (28 min) to afford mobile internet this year.”

“Investing into electronic infrastructure (0.93 correlation) and electronic government (0.92 correlation) contributes to people’s digital wellbeing the most.”

 

“In contrast, internet affordability revealed itself as the least important factor in the entire DQL (0.55 correlation).”

 

Nigeria needs to put in more efforts to boost the sector, make data and internet connectivity more accessible. This is a goal telcos are working towards and to achieve this, the country as a whole needs an excellent and sustainable transformation.