Time.news – Out of a total of 117 countries (7.2 billion people, 92% of the world population), Italy is the 19th country in the world as regards digital well-being, improving by 8 positions compared to the last survey. This is the result of the Digital Quality of Life Index 2022, an analysis (with relative ranking) by Surfshark, a company that develops tools for the protection of privacy, which takes stock of the state of digital well-being of individual countries. Five pillars taken into consideration (14 indicators): Internet quality, e-government, e-infrastructures, Internet accessibility and e-security. The study is based on open-source information from the United Nations, the World Bank, Freedom House, the International Communications Union and other sources. The report analyzes in particular the “quality of digital life to see how different nations manage to provide basic digital needs to their citizens. Above all, our research seeks to show the complete picture of the global digital divide that millions of people are suffering from, “explained Gabriele Racaityte-Krasauske, PR manager at Surfshark.
Bad the quality of the Internet, good accessibility of the Net
Of the five fundamental pillars of digital life, Italy’s worst score is that of Internet quality (42nd place globally. Italy must improve by 50% to match the result of Chile, which occupies the best position), while the best is Internet accessibility (12th place). E-security services are in 17th place, while infrastructures and e-government are in 23rd and 26th place respectively. It should be considered, it is explained, that “in the face of inflation, for the second consecutive year, fixed broadband Internet has become less accessible all over the world, including Italy”. Despite the low level, Italy’s internet quality, considering speed, stability and growth, is 10% better than the global average. As regards internet speed alone, the Italian fixed broadband network places the country above the mobile one in the global ranking, with a speed of 108.5 Mbps / s (39th place worldwide). Compared to Spain, the Italian Mobile Internet is 8% slower, while broadband is 47% slower. Since last year, however, the speed of mobile Internet in Italy has improved by 18.4% (8.7 Mbps), while the speed of fixed broadband has grown by 19.3% (17.6 Mbps). By comparison, Singapore residents enjoyed mobile speeds of up to 104 Mbps / s and fixed speeds of up to 261 Mbps / s – it’s the fastest internet in the world this year.
Internet in Italy cheaper
Internet accessibility in Italy ranks 12th in the world. Italians can buy 1 GB of mobile Internet in Italy with 20 seconds of work per month, 48% less than in Spain. However, compared to Israel, which has the cheapest mobile internet on the planet (5 seconds for 1 GB), Italians work 4 times more. Affordability has improved over the previous year, making people work 12 seconds less to afford the same mobile Internet service. Fixed broadband costs Italian citizens about 2 hours and 29 minutes of their monthly working time. To afford it, Italians have to work 8 times more than Israeli citizens, for whom the cheapest package costs only 19 minutes of work per month. Since last year, broadband internet has become less accessible in Italy, forcing people to work 6 more minutes to afford a fixed broadband internet service.
The global digital divide is deeper than ever
“Globally – reads the Surfshark study – broadband becomes less accessible every year. If you look at the countries included in last year’s index, in 2022 people will have to work six minutes more to be able to afford broadband internet. In some countries, such as Ivory Coast and Uganda, people work an average of 2 weeks to get the cheapest fixed broadband Internet package. A similar trend was observed last year. With the current inflation – it is added – the pressure on low-income families who need the internet has become even heavier ”.
The best and worst countries to live in based on the quality of digital life
Overall, 7 of the 10 countries that have obtained the highest score are in Europe, as has been the case in the last three years. Israel ranks first in the Digital Quality of Life Index 2022 and Denmark ranks second. Germany is in third place, while France and Sweden complete the top five of the 117 nations evaluated. Congo DR, Yemen, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Cameroon are in the queue. At the regional level, the United States stands out in the Americas as a country with the highest quality of digital life, while Israel occupies the first position in Asia. Among African countries, the inhabitants of South Africa enjoy the highest quality of digital life. In Oceania, New Zealand leads the way by overtaking Australia in several digital areas this year.