Surfshark’s Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL) 2024 ranks Nigeria 100th in the world. The study indicates how well the country is performing in terms of overall digital wellbeing compared to other nations.
Nigeria drops by twelve places from last year, which reflects a lack of commitment to developing the digital landscape and positioning the country as a leader in leveraging technological advancements to improve citizens’ quality of life.
“In an election year like 2024, where the digital realm shaped political discourse and societal values, prioritizing digital quality of life proved to be more important than ever.
It helps to ensure informed citizens, protects democratic processes, and fosters innovation. Our annual project helps to better understand where each county stands in terms of digital divide, highlighting where a nation’s digital quality of life excels and where further focus is required,” says Tomas Stamulis, chief security officer at Surfshark.
Out of the Index’s five pillars, Nigeria performed best in e-security, claiming 76th place, but faced challenges in e-infrastructure, ranking 108th.
The nation ranks 94th in e-government, 103rd in internet quality, and 106th in internet affordability. In the overall Index, Nigeria lags behind South Africa (66th) and Kenya (89th).
Collectively, African countries lag behind in their digital quality of life, Nigeria taking 14th place in the region.
Nigeria ranks lower in e-government than 77% of the countries analyzed, with 93 countries above.
E-government determines how advanced and digitized a country’s government services are. A well-developed e-government helps minimize bureaucracy, reduce corruption, and increase transparency within the public sector.
This pillar also shows the level of Artificial Intelligence (AI) readiness a country demonstrates. Countries with the highest readiness to adopt AI technology are also ready to counter national cyberthreats. Nigeria ranks 94th in the world in e-government — six places lower than last year.
Nigeria is 76th in the world in e-security — three places lower than last year.
The e-security pillar measures how well a country is prepared to counter cybercrime and how advanced a country’s data protection laws are.
In this pillar, Nigeria lags behind South Africa (75th) and Kenya (69th). Nigeria is unprepared to fight against cybercrime, the country has some data protection laws.
Nigeria’s internet quality is 25% lower than the global average
Nigeria’s fixed internet averages 39Mbps. To put that into perspective, the world’s fastest fixed internet — Singapore’s — is 347Mbps. Meanwhile, the slowest fixed internet in the world — Tunisia’s — is 14Mbps.
- Nigeria’s mobile internet averages 78Mbps. The fastest mobile internet — the UAE’s — is 430Mbps, while the world’s slowest mobile internet — Yemen’s — is 12Mbps.
Compared to South Africa, Nigeria’s mobile internet is 15% slower, while fixed broadband is 51% slower. Since last year, mobile internet speed in Nigeria has improved by 65%, while fixed broadband speed has grown by 55%.
The internet is unaffordable in Nigeria compared to other countries.
- Nigerians have to work 10 hours 43 minutes a month to afford fixed broadband internet. It is 46 times more than in Bulgaria, which has the world’s most affordable fixed internet (Bulgarians have to work 14 minutes a month to afford it).
- Nigerians have to work 2 hours 44 minutes 14 seconds a month to afford mobile internet. This is 18 times more than in Angola, which has the world’s most affordable mobile internet (Angolans have to work 9 minutes a month to afford it).
Nigeria is 108th in e-infrastructure.
Advanced e-infrastructure makes it easy for people to use the internet for various daily activities, such as working, studying, shopping, etc.
This pillar evaluates how high internet penetration is in a given country, as well as its network readiness (readiness to take advantage of Information and Communication Technologies). Nigeria’s internet penetration is low (35% — 109th in the world), and the country ranks 102nd in network readiness.
On a global scale, investing in e-government and e-infrastructure improves digital wellbeing the most
- Among the five pillars, e-government has the strongest correlation with the DQL index (0.92), followed by e-infrastructure (0.91).
- Internet affordability shows the weakest correlation at 0.65.
Summary are the key findings about Nigeria:
- Nigeria lags behind South Africa (66th) and Kenya (89th) in digital quality of life.
- Nigeria’s internet quality is 25% lower than the global average and ranks 103rd in the world.
- Nigeria’s fixed internet speed (39Mbps) has improved by 55% since last year, while mobile speed (78Mbps) has improved by 65%.
- The internet is unaffordable in Nigeria compared to other countries. Nigerians have to work 10 hours 43 minutes a month to afford fixed broadband internet — 46 times more than in Bulgaria, which has the world’s most affordable fixed internet.
- Nigeria performed worst in the e-infrastructure pillar, which would need to improve by 58% to match the best-ranking country (United States).
- Overall, African countries lag behind in their digital quality of life, Nigeria taking 14th place in the region.
