The fourth annual edition of the Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL) reports that South Africa ranks 66th in the world regarding digital wellbeing, out of 117 countries or 92% of the global population.
Out of the five fundamental digital life pillars, South Africa’s worst score is for e-infrastructure (ranking 88th globally), and the best is for internet affordability (39th). South Africa’s e-government services come 60th, while internet quality and e-security rank 62nd and 65th, respectively.
In the face of rising inflation, fixed broadband internet has become less affordable worldwide for the second year in a row, widening the global digital divide even further.
The DQL study was conducted by the cybersecurity company Surfshark and evaluates countries based on five fundamental digital wellbeing pillars: internet quality, e-government, e-infrastructure, internet affordability, and e-security.
This year, South Africa comes at the lower end of the index, ranking 66th, although it still ranks top in Africa. The country has improved by two positions since last year’s edition, rising from 68th to 66th.
South Africa’s internet quality, considering internet speed, stability, and growth, ranks 62nd in the world and is 8% worse than the global average. Regarding internet speed alone, South Africa’s mobile internet ranks higher than fixed broadband in the global ranking, operating at 52,2 Mbps/s (48th globally). Meanwhile, the fixed broadband internet comes 70th (53,9 Mbps/s).
Compared to Kenya, South Africa’s mobile internet is 2-times faster, while broadband is 3-times faster. Since last year, mobile internet speed in South Africa has improved by 16,5% (7,4 Mbps), and fixed broadband speed has grown by 22,7% (10 Mbps). In comparison, Singapore’s residents enjoyed mobile speeds up to 104 Mbps/s and fixed to as much as 261 Mbps/s – that’s the fastest internet in the world this year.
South Africa’s internet affordability ranks 39th in the world. Residents can buy 1Gb of mobile internet in South Africa for as little as 35 seconds of work per month, 13-times less than in Kenya. However, compared to Israel, which has the most affordable mobile internet on the planet (5s per 1Gb), South Africans work 7-times more for the same service. However, affordability improved since the previous year, making people work 24 seconds less to afford the same mobile internet service.
Fixed broadband costs South Africans around 5 hours 6 minutes of their working time each month. To afford it, South Africans have to work 16-times more than Israeli citizens, for whom the most affordable package costs only 19 minutes of work monthly. Since last year, broadband internet has become less affordable in South Africa, making people work 3 hours 28 minutes more to afford fixed broadband internet service.
Globally, broadband is getting less affordable each year – and the research shows that the 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. ”
Overall, seven out of 10 highest-scoring countries are in Europe, which has been the case for the past three years. Israel ranks first in DQL 2022, pushing Denmark to the second place after its two-year lead. Germany ranks third, 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.