Jordan ranks 87th globally in Digital Quality of Life

AMMAN — Jordan ranks 87th in the world regarding digital wellbeing, out of 117 countries, or 92 per cent of the global population, according to the fourth annual edition of the Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL). 

The DQL study is conducted by the cybersecurity company Surfshark. It evaluates countries based on five fundamental digital wellbeing pillars: Internet quality, e-government, e-infrastructure, Internet affordability, and e-security, according to a statement from the cybersecurity company. 

Out of the five fundamental digital life pillars, Jordan’s worst score is for e-security, ranking 104th globally, according to the study.

The Kingdom best score is for Internet quality, 49th. Jordan’s e-infrastructure services come 52nd, while Internet affordability and e-government rank 91st and 100th, respectively, according to the study. 

In the face of waging inflation, fixed broadband Internet has become less affordable worldwide for the second year in a row, prying the global digital divide even further, read the statement.

This year, Jordan comes at the lower end of the index, ranking 87th and only making it into top 90 in the final index. The country ranks 25th in Asia. The study said that Jordan has improved by nine positions since last year’s edition, rising from 96th to 87th. 

Out of all index pillars, Jordan’s weakest spot is e-security, which needs to improve by 570 per cent to match the best-ranking country’s result (Greece’s).

Comparatively mediocre Internet quality 

Jordan’s Internet quality, considering Internet speed, stability, and growth, ranks 49th in the world and is around the same as the global average. Regarding Internet speed alone, Jordan’s fixed broadband Internet ranks higher than mobile in the global ranking, operating at 87.3 Mbps/s (48th globally). Meanwhile, the mobile Internet comes 85th (26.6 Mbps/s).

Compared to Egypt, Jordan’s mobile Internet is of around the same speed, while broadband is 2 times faster, according to the study. 

Since last year, mobile Internet speed in Jordan has improved by 11.2 per cent (2.7 Mbps), and fixed broadband speed has grown by 29.6 per cent (19.9 Mbps). 

In comparison, Singapore’s residents enjoyed mobile speeds up to 104 Mbps/s and fixed to as much as 261 Mbps/s — the fastest Internet in the world this year, according to the study.

‘Internet in Jordan is not affordable’ 

Jordan’s Internet affordability ranks 91st in the world. Residents can buy 1GB of mobile Internet in Jordan for as cheap as 6 minutes 25 seconds of work per month, 7 times less than in Egypt. 

However, compared to Israel, which has the most affordable mobile Internet on the planet (5s per 1GB), Jordanians work 78 times more. Its affordability decreased since the previous year, making people work 84 seconds more to afford the same mobile Internet service.

Fixed broadband costs Jordanian citizens around 8 hours 28 minutes of their working time each month. To afford it, Jordanians have to work 26 times more than Israeli citizens, for whom the most affordable package costs only 19 min of work monthly. Since last year, broadband Internet has become more affordable in Jordan, making people work 62 minutes less to afford fixed broadband Internet service.

Deepening global digital divide 

Globally, broadband is getting less affordable each year. Looking at countries included in last year’s index, people have to work six minutes more to afford broadband Internet in 2022. 

In some countries, such as Ivory Coast and Uganda, people work an average of 2 weeks to earn the cheapest fixed broadband Internet package. The same trend was observed last year. With the current inflation, the pressure on low-income households that need the Internet has become even heavier. 

Surfshark’s study also found that countries with the poorest Internet connection have to work for it the longest.

“While countries with a strong digital quality of life tend to be those of advanced economies, our global study found that money doesn’t always buy digital happiness,” said Gabriele Racaityte-Krasauske, head of PR at Surfshark. 

“That is why, for the fourth year in a row, we continue analysing the Digital Quality of Life to see how different nations keep up with providing the basic digital necessities for their citizens. Most importantly, our research seeks to show the full picture of the global digital divide that millions of people are suffering from.”

Global digital quality of life

Overall, seven out of 10 highest-scoring countries are in Europe, which has been the case for the past three years. Israel ranks 1st in DQL 2022 pushing Denmark to the second place after its two-year lead. Germany ranks third, and France and Sweden round up the top five of the 117 evaluated nations. Congo DR, Yemen, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Cameroon are the bottom five countries.

Regionally, the US stands out in the Americas as a country with the highest digital quality of life, while Israel takes the leading position in Asia. Among African countries, people in South Africa enjoy the highest digital life quality. In Oceania, New Zealand takes the lead outperforming Australia in various digital areas this year.

Methodology

The 2022 DQL research examined more than 7.2 billion people regarding five core pillars and 14 underpinning indicators that provide a comprehensive measure, the statement said. 

The study is based on the United Nations open-source information, the World Bank, Freedom House, the International Communications Union, and other sources. This year’s study includes seven (6 per cent) more countries than DQL 2021, most of which are African countries.