WASHINGTON, March 5, 2024 — The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented acceleration of virtual transformation around the world, with spikes in knowledge traffic, application usage, IT industry growth, and business resilience. virtual business and much more. All countries have noted a significant increase in virtual adoption, progress in low-income countries has not been enough to bridge the gap with high-income countries in widening or narrowing the virtual divide within their borders. In low-income countries, only one in four people have access to the internet.
The World Bank Group’s new “Digital Progress and Trends Report 2023” provides a sweeping analysis of countries’ production and use of digital technologies—from digital jobs, digital services exports, and app development, to internet use, affordability, quality, and more.
Gaps in web speed, knowledge traffic, and virtual usage hamper virtual gains for Americans and businesses in low- and middle-income countries. The use of virtual technologies during the pandemic has led to an increase in knowledge traffic, driven by video streaming. Capital-consistent cellular broadband traffic in rich countries has exceeded that in low-income countries by more than 20 times, and consistent broadband traffic by more than 1,700 times. In 2023, average constant broadband and cellular speeds were five to ten times faster in high countries. low-income countries than in low-income countries.
However, the costs remain much higher for the poor: constant average broadband costs in low-income countries will account for one-third of the monthly revenue source in 2022. Even the cheapest smartphone accounts for more than 14% of the annual revenue stream. income of other people living on less than $2 a day. Today, connectivity is more expensive in Africa, while virtual currency adoption is lower in the Middle East and North Africa.
“Digitalization is the transformational opportunity of our time—but only for those who are connected,” said Axel van Trotsenburg, Senior Managing Director at the World Bank. “Without access to the internet and the skills to use digital technologies effectively, you are essentially locked out of the modern world. The critical services that support development—like hospitals, schools, energy infrastructure, and agriculture—all run on connectivity and data. The infrastructure and platforms that underpin these connections must be available, affordable, and safe for developing countries to flourish.”
The report shows that when virtualization takes off, it drives economic growth, jobs, and resilience. The data generation (IT) sector grew nearly twice as fast as the global economy between 2000 and 2022. Over the same consistent period, employment in the virtual sector grew by as much as 7% year-on-year, six times faster than overall job growth. During the COVID-19 pandemic, companies that had invested in virtual solutions lost only a portion of their profits compared to non-virtual companies.
“Closely measuring virtual progress at the national, regional, and global levels will help policymakers and the private sector direct their efforts to the most critical spaces to bridge the virtual divide,” said Guangzhe Chen, World Bank Vice President for Infrastructure. “To realize the transformative potential of virtual technologies, the global network will need to redouble its efforts to help emerging countries catch up and drive virtual adoption and ensure everyone is included. »
The report also highlights two clear emerging trends that are reshaping our digital future. First, the importance of digital public infrastructure—digital platforms for identity, payments and data sharing—as a crucial foundation for accessing public and private services. And second, the breakthroughs of artificial intelligence that will accelerate growth as well as disruption.
The World Bank Group’s “Digital Trends and Progress Report” will be updated annually to keep up with the speed of today’s virtual transformation. It will provide policymakers and practitioners with a global benchmark to measure the speed of change, identify trends to build on and obstacles to overcome, and reap the benefits of virtual transformation in a new era of development.
To learn more about the World Bank Group’s (WBG) paintings on progression in the virtual age, stay tuned for the first WBG Digital Summit.
Digital Trends and Progress Report 2023
WBG Digital Summit Opening Session
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