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Cyberspace: Nigeria ranks 82nd in 2021 Digital Quality of Life Index

Digital Life Concept Photo: 9jaflaver.Com

*Digital opportunities have proved to be more important than ever during the COVID-19 crisis, stressing the importance for every country to ensure fully remote operational capacities for their economies, says Vytautas Kaziukonis, CEO of Surfshark 

Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect

Following an evaluation based on a set of five fundamental digital wellbeing pillars, Nigeria, a West African country, has been ranked 82nd among 110 countries in the third annual edition of Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL).

ConsumerConnect gathered the study noted that “Nigeria has one of the slowest broadband connection speeds globally (13.45 Mbps), ranking 105th, and slightly faster mobile Internet (17.91 Mbps), ranking 96th.

“However, the country’s Broadband speed growth is one of the fastest on the planet, ranking 16th.”

The DQL study, covering 90 percent of the global population, is conducted by the cybersecurity company Surfshark, and evaluates countries of the world, based on a set of five fundamental digital wellbeing pillars.

Nigeria lags with internet affordability (ranks 107th), e-government (95th), and e-infrastructure (90th), but shows similar to the global average results in internet quality (56th) and e-security (46th).

The Index also disclosed that Nigeria’s digital quality of life remains similar to its ranking in 2020.

In spite of the slight fall in the leaderboard, the country comes first in Western Africa and shows slightly better results in some pillars than the global average, said the report.

In terms of the country’s e-security, it is ranked among the Top 50 worldwide, thereby surpassing Africa’s DQL leader South Africa.

Nigeria ranks 56th in the Internet quality index due to low Internet speeds in the country, according to DQL Index.

The study is said to have indicated that Nigeria’s Internet affordability is 90 percent, worse than the global average.

The study findings also showed that “people in Nigeria have to work the most time in the world – more than 35 hours – to afford the cheapest Broadband Internet.

The country’s e-government also does not make it to the Top 90th, falling behind Senegal, Morocco, and Tanzania.”

Vytautas Kaziukonis, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Surfshark, said: “Digital opportunities have proved to be more important than ever during the COVID-19 crisis, stressing the importance for every country to ensure fully remote operational capacities for their economies.

“That is why, for the third year in a row, we continue the Digital Quality of Life research, which provides a robust global outlook into how countries excel digitally.

“The index sets the basis for meaningful discussions about how digital advancement impacts a country’s prosperity and where improvements can be made.”

The report as well noted that six out of 10 countries holding the highest scores are located in Europe, following last year’s trend.

Denmark ranks 1st in DQL for the second year in a row and is closely followed by South Korea.

Finland ranks third, while Israel and the US round out the top five of 110 nations that were evaluated.

Whereas the bottom five countries are Ethiopia, Cambodia, Cameroon, Guatemala, and Angola.

Regionally, the US stands out as a country with the highest digital quality of life in the Americas, while South Korea takes the leading position in Asia, it said.

The study findings also revealed among countries in Africa, South Africans enjoy the highest quality of their digital life whereas Australia leads in Oceania, outperforming New Zealand in various digital areas.

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