Harnessing the Internet for Development
Universal access to the Internet has become a topdevelopment priority. Getting there requires affordable,reliable access to fast, “always on” broadbandnetworks, one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 9.c). Finland has recogni...
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/517911470919578231/Connections-Harnessing-the-internet-for-development http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26323 |
| Summary: | Universal access to the Internet has
become a topdevelopment priority. Getting there requires
affordable,reliable access to fast, “always on”
broadbandnetworks, one of the United Nations’ Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG 9.c). Finland has recognizedaccess to
broadband as a fundamental human rightsince 2010. In 2011, a
key Uncommission also declared that broadband access is a
basic human right, alongwith health care, shelter, and food.
Affordable Internetaccess enables progress on some of the
toughestdevelopment challenges in the world’s poorest
communities. According to one estimate, increasing the
proportion of the world’s population that is connected to
the Internet to 75 percent(reaching 5.6 billion people)would
add 2 trillion dollars per year to world Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) and help create 140 million jobs—a lofty goal:
today, only about 40 percent of the world’s population (3.2
billion)is connected. But reaping those benefits requires
more than adding Internet connections: while digital
technologies have been spreading, “digital dividends” have
not. Getting traction will require a major reevaluation of
Internet development and reform projects. That reevaluation
is the focus of the World Bank’s World Development Report
2016: Digital Dividends (WDR 16).It highlights the size of
the digital divide and shows that a robust program of
development in the supporting environment points the way for
the development community to make decisive headway on the
enormous promise of the Internet. |
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