60 % World's Population Excluded From Digital Economy, World Bank

DESPITE the rapid growth of digital technology, 60 per cent of the world's population remains excluded from the ever-expanding digital economy.

According to a new World Bank report the increasing number of digital technologies such as the adoption of internet in

business, and the development of smart devices does not match the number of the world’s population who have embraced  digital technologies, particularly in the  developing world.

The report said that the anticipated digital dividends of higher growth, more jobs, and better public services have fallen short of expectations.

The new 'World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends,' which was authored by Co-Directors, Deepak Mishra and Uwe Deichmann and team, revealed that the benefits of rapid digital expansion have been skewed towards the wealthy, skilled, and influential around the world, who are better positioned to take advantage of the new technologies.

The report also showed that though the number of internet users worldwide has more than tripled since 2005, four billion people still lack access to the internet.

Commenting on the report, President of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim noted that digital technologies are transforming the worlds of business, work, and government stressing that "We must continue to connect everyone and leave no one behind because the cost of lost opportunities is enormous.”

He said that for digital dividends to be widely shared among all parts of society, countries also need to improve their business climate, invest in people's education and health, and promote good governance.

Kim observed that although there are many individual success stories, the effect of technology on global productivity, expansion of opportunity for the poor and middle class, and the spread of accountable governance has so far been less than expected.

He explained that digital technologies are spreading rapidly, but digital dividends growth, jobs and services have lagged behind.

The World Bank Chief Economist, Kaushik Basu in his reaction said that the digital revolution is transforming the world, aiding information flows, and facilitating the rise of developing nations that are able to take advantage of these new opportunities.

Basu said that it is an amazing transformation that today 40 per cent of the world's population is connected by the internet but warned against creating a new underclass saying that “with nearly 20 per cent of the world's population unable to read and write, the spread of digital technologies alone is unlikely to spell the end of the global knowledge divide."