Surfshark’s Digital Quality of Life (DQL) Index 2022 ranks South Africa’s digital well-being in 66th place globally. The country has improved from last year’s 68th position.
The study covers 92% of the global population and indexes 117 countries by looking at five fundamental pillars of digital life – internet affordability and quality, e-infrastructure, e-security, and e-government.
- The study made key findings about South Africa: South Africa’s internet affordability ranks 39th in the world. To afford mobile internet, South Africans have to work seven times more than Israeli citizens, for whom the most affordable 1GB package costs approximately only 5 of South Africans’ 35 shifts of work per month. ) South Africa’s internet quality, considering internet speed, stability, and growth, ranks 62nd in the world and is 8% worse than the global average.) Since 2021, 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).) Compared to Nigeria, South Africa’s mobile internet is two times faster, while broadband is three times faster.) Out of all index pillars, South Africa’s weakest spot is e-infrastructure, which needs to improve by 70% to match the best-ranking country’s result (Denmark).
Global overview: Overall, seven out of the ten highest-scoring countries are in Europe. Israel ranks first in the DQL 2022, placing Denmark in second place. Germany ranks third and France and Sweden round up the top five of the 117 evaluated nations. DR Congo, Yemen, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Cameroon are the bottom five countries.
This index 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.
