The pandemic has led people to use the internet more than ever. It was used for communication, education, teleworking, but at the same time in the continuous lockdowns, it showed a huge gap, where 3 billion people have no access to the Internet and have not used it even once.
According to the United Nations, 40% of the world is offline and the number is disappointing because 96% of them live in developing countries.
Although the number of people who can not use the internet has decreased in the last two years, the number remains high and creates inequalities that must disappear.
"Poverty, illiteracy, limited access to electricity and lack of digital skills have negatively affected the digitally excluded," the ITU said. In the poorest countries, internet access is often inaccessible. Typically, almost 3/4 of people were never connected to the 46 least developed countries. "While almost two-thirds of the world's population now has access to the internet, there is a lot that needs to be done to get all citizens into the digital world," said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.
From 15 to 24 years old 71% use the internet every day and it is a way of life for them, but as we go up in age groups the number decreases with the third age remaining at a very low percentage.
But it is not just age that seems to affect internet use.
It was found that women have less access to the Internet, with the difference being small in developed countries but showing a huge difference in developing and African countries. Indicatively in Africa only 19% of women are connected to the Internet.
There is a large gap between cities and rural areas with only 36% of those living in the countryside using technology for work or leisure.