ITU World Telecommunication Development Report

Access Indicators for the Information Society

Press BriefingUN, Geneva

4 December 2003

What the report is• A practical toolkit

with dozens of definitions and examples of indicators & surveys used to measure access to ICTs that governments can use to improve their statistical practices.

• A 100-page statistical annex covering a range of data for 182 countries in 20 statistical tables is also included. These “World Telecommunication Indicators” include data such as the number of telephone subscribers, television households and Internet users.

Why measure access?“We, the representatives of the peoples of the world… declare our common desire and commitment to build a people-centered, inclusive … Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential … and improving their quality of life…”—World Summit on the Information Society, Declaration of Principles, Draft of 14 November 2003

Contents

1. Accessing the Information Society2. Measuring Access to ICTs3. ICTs in Business, School & Government4. ICTs and the Millennium Development

Goals5. The Digital Access Index6. ConclusionsWorld Telecommunication Indicators

The digital divide & the statistical divide

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Countries Internetsurvey

Low income Lower MiddleUpper Middle High Income

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Population Internetusers

Low Income Lower Middle Upper Middle High Income

16%

70% 60%23%

33%40%

5% 0%

Over-surveyedInternet user surveys in Europe

5044 42

2923

19

NielsenSIBIS Gallup TNS AUI INE

Spain

Greece

Spain

EU

Den-mark

0102030405060708090

NSO GallupInternet users as % of 14/15/16+ population, 2002

The shrinking digital divide?Internet users per 100 inhabitants

2.0

3.9

Estimate Survey

Peru,2000

3.85.8

Estimate Survey

Thailand,2001

4.6

9.8

Estimate Survey

Mexico,2002

5.0

25.7

Estimate Survey

Jamaica,2003

Age and access deviceInternet users per 100 inhabitants, 2002

5759

6162

626364

6471

81

Korea (Rep.) 6+

USA 3+

Norway 13+

Neth. 15+

Finland 16+

Canada 15+

Singapore 15+

Denmark 16+

Sweden 16+

Iceland 12+

50.4

50.6

50.8

51.3

51.3

44.9

55.2

55.2

57.3

64.9

Singapore

Netherlands

Finland

Denmark

Canada

Japan

Korea(Rep.)

USA

Sweden

Iceland

Only from mobiles

Mexico: Internet subscription, possession, use and access, 2002

2.0 6.2 9.9

68.5

0102030405060708090

100

Subscribers per100 inhabitants

Availability inhousehold (%)

Users per 100inhabitants

Populationcovered (%)

Ethiopia: telephone penetration and use

0.3

19.3

Telephone penetration Use telephone

1998

South Africa mobilePercentage of population covered by mobile cellular service

70 73 75 8090 92 96

2.3 4.5 7.9 12.019.1

24.330.7

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants

ElectricityPercentage of households in Africa with electricity, radio, TV

R2 = 0.92

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0 20 40 60 80

Electricity

TV

Ghana Senegal Namibia Mozam-bique

ElectricityRadioTV

Sector

4437

85 93 89

Small Medium Large EuropeanUnion

ChileInternet access in Chilean firms, '02, %

226

3334

4148

7693100

0.4MalawiEthiopia

MongoliaCape Verde

MalaysiaTurkey

MauritiusChile

SwitzerlandEstonia

Secondary schoolswith Internet access

%, 2002 51316

4267

798285

MalawiPeru

Macao, ChinaHK, China

EstoniaSloveniaCanadaFinland

Gov't employeeswith Internet

access, %, 2002

• Business• School• Government

Information & Communication Technology & Millennium Development Goals

ICTs

MDGs

MDG Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

Target 18“In cooperation with the private sector make available the benefits of new technologies, specifically information and communications.”

A decade of ICT progressTotal telephone subscribers per 100 inhabitants, developing regions

4.54.75.318.0

27.435.4

44.152.6

0.72.31.04.51.2

7.114.1

9.8

Carib-bean

Europe &C. Asia

LatinAmerica

East Asia

MENA Sub-Saharan

Africa

Pacific SouthAsia

20021992

Note: Developed countries are excluded. For definitions of regions, see: www.worldbank.org/data/countryclass/classgroups.htm.

Macro-economic impact of ICTs: Japan

8.6%9.3%

10.0%

11.8%11.2%10.9%

12.6%

1995 1997 1999 2001-0

.24% -0

.06%

0.02

%0.

31%

0.83%

0.03

%

-0.6

6%

-0.0

6%

Elect

ric m

achin

ery

Cons

truct

ionIro

n & st

eel

Tran

spor

tatio

nWh

olesa

leRe

tail

ICT

Over

all

ICT annual growth 1995-2001: 9.3%(Overall economy only 1.2%)

ICT jobs: 3.8 million (7.1% of all workers, 3rd largest employer)

Contribution to economic growth, 2001

Share of ICT sector in GDP

1.5 million jobs createdUS$ 206 billion ICT investment

US$ 335 billion production induced

Gender, pollution & telework in Ireland

72%

33%

56%

68%

41% 44% 41%49%

College Women Havechildren

Married

TeleworkersAll workers

Getting to work Location of work

Away from home91.1%

Car 54.1%

Public transport,

walk, bicycle 36.2%

Work at home 9.7% Home 8.9%(Telework:

2.3%)

Number of vehicles increased by 68% from 1990-2001.

Related CO2

emissions increased by 122%

in

Telework: “persons who work from home & could not do so without PC with a telecom link.”

More tertiary education = more women with small children teleworking (MDG #3)

More teleworkers = more people working at home = less car pollution (MDG #7)

Impact of ICTs on Millennium Development Goals

7. Ensure environ-mental sustain-ability

Decrease in CO2 car emissions

from telework in Ireland

-2

143

2. Achieve universal primary

education

1. Eradicate extreme poverty

3.Promote gender equality

4. Reduce

child mortality

6. Combat

HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Increase in income of

Bangladesh village phone

owners

Increase in primary school enrolment in Nepal from

teachers trained using ICTs

Increase in female tertiary

school enrolment in

Australia from online education

Decrease in infant health

problems among families using

telemedicine in US

Decrease in maternal mortality

following ICT-based program

in Uganda

Increase in condom imports in St. Lucia after HIV radio show

245.7 0.8

-10 -50

5.Improve

maternal health

% change

WSIS Targets 1. To connect villages with ICTs and

establish community access points2. To connect … schools3. To connect research centres4. To connect public libraries… 5. To connect health centres & hospitals6. To connect all local and central

government departments & establish websites and e-mail addresses

7. To adapt … school curricula to meet challenges of the Information Society

8. To ensure that all of the world’s population has access to TV & radio

9. To encourage development of content & … facilitate the presence and use of all world languages on the Internet

10. To ensure that more than half the world’s inhabitants have access to ICTs within their reach

8197

78

Developing Developed World

% population covered by telephone service

94

88

10095

8999

Radio TV

DevelopingDevelopedWorld

% population covered by terrestrial

broadcasting

Digital Access Index• ITU expertise:

– Leading source of ICT data– Analysis and research

strength• Inclusive:

– 178 economies, most of any other ICT index

• Transparent: – 5 categories, 8 indicators,

easy to decode• Classifications:

– High, upper, medium, low• Flexibility:

– gender sub-index – national indices– index over time

USAGE Internet users

INFRA-STRUCTURE

AFFORDABILITYKNOWLEDGE

QUALITY

Fixed telephone

subscribers

Mobile cellular subscribers

Broadbandsubscribers

International Internet

bandwidth

Internet access

price

School enrolment

Literacy

e-ITU indicatorsUniversal service

1.% households with electricity2. % households with a radio3.% households with a television4. % of households with a telephone5. % of households with a computer6. % of households with Internet

Universalaccess

7. % of population covered by mobile8. % of population that use a computer9. % of population with access to the Internet

Sector use

10. % businesses with computers11. % businesses with Internet access12. % businesses with a website13. Student to computer ratio14. % schools with Internet access15. % gov’t offices with Internet access16. % gov’t offices with a website17.% gov’t employees with Internet access

Digital Access Index18. Fixed subscribers per 100 inhabitants19. Mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants20. Internet tariff as % of per capita income21. Internet bandwidth per inhabitant22. Broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants23. Internet users per 100 inhabitants

Conclusions• Follow model surveys to enhance international comparability.

Where household or business surveys are already conducted by national statistical offices, include ICT access questions.

• Developed nations and multilateral agencies should assist developing nations to compile ICT indicators

• Government ICT agencies should collect administrative records on ICTs and liase with their national statistical offices.

• Make available data more visible. Countries should identify a prominent website location for information society statistics.

• At the international level, a portal for information society indicators could be created, containing links to national statistics as well as model questionnaires and methodological information. International agencies also devote more resources to this area.

• Good statistical practice is important; transparency, clarity, timeliness and relevance are critical.

World Telecom Indicators1. Basic indicators2. Main telephone lines3. Waiting list4. Telephone network5. Tele-accessibility6. Telephone tariffs7. Cellular subscribers8. Cellular tariffs9. ISDN10.International traffic

11.Telecom staff12.Telecom revenue13.Telecom investment14.Equipment trade15.Information

technology16.Internet tariffs17.Broadband18.Broadcasting19.Pay TV20.Projections

181 economies, 2002 data

ITU 2003World

Telecommunication Development Report:Access Indicators for the

Information Society

Thank you!Michael.Minges@itu.int