Measuring digital development: Facts and figures 2019

The InternationalTelecommunication Union (ITU) released its flagship report Measuring digital development: Facts and figures 2019 which revealed that in most countries women are still lagging behind men in reaping the benefits of digital technologies. Hence, certain actions should be taken to tackle the cultural, financial, and skills-related digital gaps. According to the report, the digital gender gap is growing fast in developing countries where Internet penetration was reported at a rate of 52.8% for men compared to 40.7% for women. ‘Connecting the 3.6 billion people still offline to the power of digital technologies must become one of our most urgent development priorities. Multi-stakeholder collaboration will be key to making universal and meaningful connectivity a reality for all. It will require targeted efforts to lower the cost of broadband and innovative policies to finance network rollout to unconnected populations,’ highlighted ITU Telecommunication Development Director Bureau Doreen Bogdan-Martin.