A new UNICEF-ITU report reveals that Two-thirds of the world’s school-age children do not have internet access at home
NEW YORK/GENEVA: According to a new joint report from UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Two thirds of the world’s school-age children or 1.3 billion children aged 3 to 17 years old do not have internet connection in their homes.
Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director said “That so many children and young people have no internet at home is more than a digital gap –it is a digital canyon. “Lack of connectivity doesn’t just limit children and young people’s ability to connect online. It prevents them from competing in the modern economy. It isolates them from the world. And in the event of school closures, such as those currently experienced by millions due to COVID-19, it causes them to lose out on education. Put bluntly, the lack of internet access is costing the next generation their futures.”
The report also says that the digital divide is perpetuating inequalities that already divide countries and communities. Children and young people from the poorest households, rural and lower income states are falling even further behind their peers and are left with very little opportunity to ever catch up.
Globally, among school-age children from richest households, 58 per cent have internet connection at home, compared with only 16 per cent from the poorest households.
| Region | School-age children 3-17 years old unconnected at home |
| West and Central Africa | 95% – 194 million |
| East and Southern Africa | 88% – 191 million |
| South Asia | 88% – 449 million |
| Middle East and North Africa | 75% – 89 million |
| Latin America and the Caribbean | 49% – 74 million |
| Eastern Europe and Central Asia | 42% – 36 million |
| East Asia and the Pacific | 32% – 183 million |
| Global | 67% – 1.3 billion |
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