Surfshark’s Digital Quality of Life Index 2022 has ranked Namibia 103rd in the world on overall digital wellbeing.
The country has dropped by three positions since last year’s edition, falling from 100th to 103rd.
The study covers 92% of the global population and indexes 117 countries by looking at five fundamental pillars of digital life – internet affordability, internet quality, e-infrastructure, e-security, and e-government.
Namibia’s worst score is for internet quality (ranking 104th globally), and the best is for internet affordability (96th). Namibia’s e-government services come 97th, while e-infrastructure and e-security rank 101st and 103rd, respectively. In the face of waging inflation, fixed broadband internet has become less affordable worldwide for the second year in a row, prying the global digital divide even further.
“This year, Namibia comes at the lower end of the index, ranking 103rd not even making it into top 100 in the final index. Country ranks 14th in Africa. The country has dropped by three positions since last year’s edition, falling from 100th to 103rd. Out of all index pillars, Namibia’s weakest spot is internet quality, which needs to improve by 130% to match the best-ranking country’s result (Chile’s),” the index reveals.
Internet quality in Namibia is very weak, and on a global scale mobile internet is better than fixed
Namibia’s internet quality, considering internet speed, stability, and growth, ranks 104th in the world and is 31% worse than the global average. Regarding internet speed alone, Namibia’s mobile internet ranks higher than fixed broadband in the global ranking, operating at 22.2 Mbps/s (99th globally). Meanwhile, the fixed broadband internet comes 105th (18.4 Mbps/s).
Compared to Angola, Namibia’s mobile internet is 22% slower, while broadband is 7% faster. Since last year, mobile internet speed in Namibia has improved by 12.6% (2.5 Mbps), and fixed broadband speed has grown by 12.9% (2.1 Mbps). In comparison, Singapore’s residents enjoyed mobile speeds up to 104 Mbps/s and fixed to as much as 261 Mbps/s – the fastest internet in the world this year.
Internet in Namibia is not affordable compared to global standards, there’s a lot of room for improvement
Namibia’s internet affordability ranks 96th in the world. Residents can buy 1GB of mobile internet in Namibia for 20 minutes 3 seconds of work per month, 50% more than in Angola. However, compared to Israel, which has the most affordable mobile internet on the planet (5s per 1GB), Namibians work 245 times more. Its affordability decreased since the previous year, making people work 5 minutes 47 seconds more to afford the same mobile internet service.
Fixed broadband costs Namibian citizens around 6 hours 59 minutes of their working time each month. To afford it, Namibians have to work 22 times more than Israeli citizens, for whom the most affordable package costs only 19 min of work monthly. Since last year, broadband internet has become less affordable in Namibia, making people work 3 hours 11 minutes more to afford fixed broadband internet service.
The global digital divide is now deeper than ever
Globally, broadband is getting less affordable each year. Looking at countries included in last year’s index, people have to work six minutes more to afford broadband internet in 2022. In some countries, such as Ivory Coast and Uganda, people work an average of 2 weeks to earn the cheapest fixed broadband internet package. The same trend was observed last year. With the current inflation, the pressure on low-income households that need the internet has become even heavier. Surfshark’s study also found that countries with the poorest internet connection have to work for it the longest.
“While countries with a strong digital quality of life tend to be those of advanced economies, our global study found that money doesn’t always buy digital happiness,” – explains Gabriele Racaityte-Krasauske, Head of PR at Surfshark. “That is why, for the fourth year in a row, we continue analyzing the Digital Quality of Life to see how different nations keep up with providing the basic digital necessities for their citizens. Most importantly, our research seeks to show the full picture of the global digital divide that millions of people are suffering from.”
The best and the worst countries to live in by the digital quality of life
Overall, 7 out of 10 highest-scoring countries are in Europe, which has been the case for the past three years. Israel ranks 1st in DQL 2022 pushing Denmark to the second place after its two-year lead. Germany ranks 3rd, and France and Sweden round up the top five of the 117 evaluated nations. Congo DR, Yemen, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Cameroon are the bottom five countries.
Regionally, the US stands out in the Americas as a country with the highest digital quality of life, while Israel takes the leading position in Asia. Among African countries, people in South Africa enjoy the highest digital life quality. In Oceania, New Zealand takes the lead outperforming Australia in various digital areas this year.
The 2022 DQL research examined more than 7.2 billion people regarding five core pillars and 14 underpinning indicators that provide a comprehensive measure. The study is based on the United Nations open-source information, the World Bank, Freedom House, the International Communications Union, and other sources. This year’s study includes seven (6%) more countries than DQL 2021, most of which are African countries.