As of 2022, 2.7 billion people lack internet access globally and 53 per cent of the world does not have access to high-speed broadband. So, what’s driving the emergent digital divide and access gaps and how can they be bridged? Especially, when implicit in the digital revolution was the promise of an equitable Global Commons in terms of digital public infrastructure.

The digital divide was brought out in sharp relief against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. The world experienced an internet spike, with 466 million people using it for the very first time in 2020. The number of global internet users and the percentage of internet penetration continued to grow from 2021 to 2022 at seven and six per cent respectively.

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This growth certainly indicates progress has been made in digital access, writes Professor Landry Signe of the Brookings Institution in a recent paper, but the fact remains that a third of the world population is still having to do without access to the internet. Taken together with half the global population not having access to high-speed broadband, the danger of compounding negative effects in terms of economic, political, and social inclusion is clear and present. Policymakers not only need to pay attention to the continental differences that exist around technology access and use, but design a collaborative approach to mitigate if not eradicate them.

Prof. Signe underlines that in terms of access to internet and mobile devices alone, there are several layers of division – the geographic location of the 2.7 billion unconnected varies greatly by region as internet penetration is 89 per cent in Europe, over 80 per cent in the Americas, and 70 per cent in the Arab states, compared to 61 per cent in Asia and just 40 per cent in Africa (which is projected to have the world’s largest youth cohort over the next decade). But disparities in connectivity and use are not limited to geographic divides; they also include gaps based on gender, age, and, rural versus urban populations. The findings of Prof. Signe and his team suggest that as of 2022, there are 264 million fewer women accessing the internet than men, with women seven per cent less likely to own a mobile phone and 16 per cent less likely to use mobile internet than men.

Younger populations are more likely to be online as well, with 75 per cent of global youth (aged 15-24) connected to the internet, compared to 65 per cent of the rest of the population. In 2021, the number of internet users in urban areas was double the number in rural areas.

The key to navigating this complexity and for states the world over adopting appropriate policy responses, is to recognise that the digital divide does not just include the divide between those with access to the internet or mobile devices and those without, but is made up of additional overlapping divides in digital skills, digital use, quality of infrastructure, and access to content. Meaningful connectivity requires a global consensus because our digital future cannot and must not be decided exclusively by governments and Big Tech.