This is how to counter the global digital divide

This is how to counter the global digital divide

The digital divide persists with 2.9 billion people lacking opportunities to go online and engage purposefully with the digital economy, meaning they face a worsening cycle of disenfranchisement.

Digital inclusion can transform people’s lives by providing the knowledge, tools, and infrastructure to go online and benefit from the digital economy.

The Digital Inclusion Navigator, sponsored by the EDISON Alliance, is designed to tackle shortfalls in access to affordable online technology and participation in the digital economy.



Countering the global digital divide is an increasingly urgent imperative because several essential aspects of everyday life – including banking, health care, education, media, communications and even identity – depend on access to digital tools and technologies. Connectivity has become a conduit to information, communication, education and societal wellbeing. People who lack opportunities to go online and engage purposefully with the digital economy face a worsening cycle of disenfranchisement.



Unfortunately, that’s a lot of people. Despite some improvement in recent years, a third of the world’s population (some 2.9 billion people) suffers from the digital divide – even though 95% of the world’s population resides within range of a mobile broadband network. Despite that, limited device availability, combined with a lack of