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Q. What Is the Digital Divide?

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A. It's the gap between people who can use digital devices and online services, and those who can't.

There's already plenty of good technology in the world — but leave it entirely to the market, and what happens? Some people get to use it, and others never do, and the gap just keeps growing. What makes the digital divide especially troubling is that it feeds into other forms of social inequality: class, gender, education, geography.

New technology tends to be expensive and complicated to use. That makes it easy to access for people who already have knowledge and money, and much harder for people who don't.

People who use the internet well keep gaining knowledge and income, while people who can't stay exactly where they are. Over time, that gap between the two groups just keeps widening. The digital divide no longer stops at a gap in "information" — it's spreading into a gap in ideas, in emotional connection, in culture, creating an entirely new kind of social divide.

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Where Is the Digital Divide Worst?

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"Internet for everyone" is still a long way off. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s 2025 report, 74% of the world's population is now online — but 2.2 billion people (26%) still aren't. That's more than 230 times the population of Seoul, still standing outside the door.

It's mostly people in poorer countries who are left offline, simply because digital access costs too much. A4AI, an international non-profit that supports internet access in developing countries, argues that the cost of 1GB of mobile data shouldn't exceed 2% of a person's monthly income — anywhere in the world.

But in the DRC, Chad, the Central African Republic, Liberia, and most other African nations, that cost runs well past 20% of monthly income — more than ten times the benchmark. At that price, "affordable internet" isn't even the right phrase anymore.

● Regional Disparities

▲ Internet usage varies sharply by region — over 90% in Europe and the CIS, but just 36% in Africa.Source: ITU, Facts and Figures 2025

Africa remains the least connected continent in the world. As of 2025, 93% of the CIS region, 92% of Europe, 88% of the Americas, 77% of Asia-Pacific, and 70% of Arab States have internet access — while only 36% of Africa's population does.

In Europe, nine out of ten people are online. In Africa, it's barely three or four out of ten.(Source: ITU, Facts and Figures 2025)

▲ Even in the 5G era, only 4% of people in low-income countries have access — the divide is shifting from "connected or not" to "how fast."Source: ITU, Facts and Figures 2025

The real gap has moved past "connected or not." 5G already reaches more than half the world's population, but coverage sits at 84% in high-income countries versus just 4% in low-income ones.

A typical user in a high-income country uses nearly eight times more mobile data than one in a low-income country. Being "connected" isn't the question anymore — it's how fast and how generously you're connected. That's the new dividing line.

And the next divide has already begun: the AI divide. According to a 2025 World Bank report, high-income countries host 86% of the world's top supercomputers and 77% of global data center capacity.

The human side of the gap is just as stark. 66% of people in high-income countries have basic digital skills — in low-income countries, it's under 5%.

The same pattern shows up in language. English speakers make up just 19% of the world's population, yet English accounts for 45% of internet URLs, 56% of open-source AI training data, and 98% of scientific papers. Since AI is literally trained on this data, the question of which language — and whose knowledge — becomes the default for the future is already being decided, right now.

● The Digital Gender Gap

The gender gap in digital access hasn't closed either. According to the ITU's 2025 report, global internet usage stands at 77% for men and 71% for women — women still have less access than men. In raw numbers, that's roughly 280 million more men online than women.

The gap is widest in Africa. Recent data shows 40% of African men have internet access, compared to just 31% of women.(That's narrower than the 2021 figures of 37% and 20%, but still a significant gap — source: 2025 aggregated data based on ITU figures) This gender gap actively harms women's independence and human rights, and reinforces existing discrimination — which is exactly why it needs urgent attention.

▲ The divide persists within regions and countries too — urban 85% vs rural 58%, men 77% vs women 71%.Source: ITU, Facts and Figures 2025

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How the Digital Divide Affects Society

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The digital divide feeds directly into these forms of social inequality.

● Fewer Healthcare Opportunities

Internet access has become a genuine public health issue. Without it, people can't get the health information and resources they need. This became painfully clear during global health emergencies like the pandemic, when getting information fast was a matter of life and death — which is exactly why global health experts now argue that broadband access should be recognized as a "social determinant of health."

● Fewer Educational Opportunities

A lack of digital tools and devices limits access to knowledge and locks in unequal learning outcomes across generations. The COVID-19 pandemic laid this bare — teachers and students in areas without adequate devices simply had no way to keep classes going.

● Fewer Economic Opportunities

Digital illiteracy shuts people out of quality jobs, which drives economic inequality. Without reliable broadband, both workers and business owners lose ground in economic opportunity and competitiveness within the digital economy.

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How Can We Close the Digital Divide?

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The U.S. non-profit National Digital Inclusion Alliance identifies five actions needed to close the digital divide.

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Efforts to Close the Digital Divide

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The UN's Sustainable Development Goal 9 explicitly includes "reducing the digital divide." As a result, a range of initiatives are underway around the world to expand access to technology. Here are a few of the notable ones.

● Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI)

This initiative works to bring affordable internet service to people in parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America who are priced out by high rates. Specifically, it aims to bring internet costs below the UN Broadband Commission's target of under 5% of average monthly income.

● Free Basics

Feature phone and smartphone ownership is rising in low-income countries, but expensive data plans keep actual internet usage low. Led by Meta, Free Basics partners with 81 mobile carriers across 50 countries to offer free access to information — weather, news, maternal health, travel, job listings, and official government announcements.

● Starlink

A project led by Tesla founder Elon Musk, Starlink launches satellites into orbit to deliver affordable high-speed internet with global coverage.

Technology is a powerful tool for lifting people out of poverty. Building a world where no one is left behind means giving people unfamiliar with digital tools the chance to learn them and build real capability. Turning the digital divide into digital inclusion starts, in the end, with the attention and care of the global community.

When the internet first arrived, the world was optimistic that the gap would simply disappear. Thirty years later, we're watching something else happen: the gap hasn't closed — it's just moved on to the next technology. From the internet, to 5G, and now to AI. Every time technology takes a leap forward, we get asked the same question again — who gets to stand at the front of the line this time?

Written by Sharon Choi

Director of Planning

Sunhak Peace Prize Secretariat