Surfshark‘s fifth annual Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL) says Nigeria has dropped two places from last year and now sits in the 88th position worldwide.
Nigeria did the best out of the Index’s five pillars in terms of internet quality, winning the 62nd place. However, the country faces issues in terms of internet pricing, ranking 108th.
The country now holds the 73rd spot for e-security, the 88th spot for e-government, and the 93rd for e-infrastructure. Overall, the Index places Nigeria in a worse position than South Africa (72nd) and Kenya (76th). The country currently occupies the seventh spot on the continent, with South Africa continuing to hold the top spot.
“In many nations, ‘digital quality of life’ has merged into the broader concept of overall ‘quality of life’. There’s no other way to look at it now that so many daily activities, including work, education, and leisure, are done online. That’s why it’s crucial to pinpoint the areas in which a nation’s digital quality of life thrives and where attention is needed, which is the precise purpose of the DQL Index”, says Gabriele Racaityte-Krasauske, Surfshark’s spokeswoman.
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Nigeria’s internet quality is around global average
In Nigeria, the average download speed for fixed internet is 25 Mbps. To put that into perspective, the internet connection in Singapore, which is fixed, is the fastest in the world at 300 Mbps. In the meantime, Yemen has the slowest fixed internet connection speed in the world at 11 Mbps.
The typical download speed for mobile internet is 47 Mbps. The United Arab Emirates has the world’s fastest mobile internet, which is 310 Mbps, whereas Venezuela has the world’s slowest mobile internet, which is 10 Mbps.
Mobile internet in Nigeria is 31% slower than that of South Africa, and fixed broadband internet in Nigeria is 64% slower than that of South Africa. The average download speed of mobile internet in Nigeria has increased by 87% over the past year, while the average download speed of fixed broadband has increased by 33%.
Nigerian internet is expensive compared to other countries
To save enough money for a month’s worth of fixed broadband internet service, Nigerians need to labour 35 hours and 25 minutes. It is 119 times more expensive than in Romania, which offers the cheapest fixed internet in the world (Romanians just need to work 18 minutes a month to afford it).
To be able to purchase mobile internet monthly, Nigerians need to labour 2 hours, 59 minutes, and 15 seconds. This is 11 times more than in Luxembourg, which boasts the most affordable mobile internet in the world (people in Luxembourg just need to labour for 16 minutes each month to afford it).
In terms of online safety, Nigeria is currently ranked 73rd in the world, which is a drop of seven spots from the previous year.
The level of preparedness of a nation to combat cybercrime and the level of technological advancement of that nation’s data protection legislation are both evaluated using the e-security pillar. In this particular criterion, Nigeria ranks lower than its neighbours South Africa (72) and Kenya (65). Nigeria is woefully unprepared to combat cybercrime, and the country’s data protection regulations are among the weakest in the world.
Nigeria is 93rd in e-infrastructure and 88th in e-government
People can utilise the Internet for a variety of day-to-day activities, including working, studying, shopping, and many more, because to the development of e-infrastructure. This component analyses a nation’s network readiness and internet penetration rate (the percentage of the population that has access to the internet) to determine whether or not it is prepared to use information and communication technologies. The country of Nigeria ranks 105th in the world in terms of network readiness, and it has a moderate level of internet penetration (73%, which places it 86th in the world).
The level of preparation that a country demonstrates in terms of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is indicated by the e-government pillar, which demonstrates how advanced a government’s digital services are. The level of electronic government in Nigeria is lower than the average worldwide.
The cost of accessing the internet worldwide has decreased since last year.
Fixed internet access is now 11% more affordable than it was a year ago, which means that individuals only need to work 42 minutes less each month to be able to afford it.
People need to work 41 minutes less every week to afford mobile internet because prices have decreased by 26% over the past year.