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Africa: Pp95 – Africa’s Digital Divide Is Closing, but Participation in the Digital(ised) Economy Remains Highly Uneven

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Africa: Pp95 – Africa’s Digital Divide Is Closing, but Participation in the Digital(ised) Economy Remains Highly Uneven


Only about four in 10 citizens have the necessary access to devices, electricity, and the Internet.

Key findings

  • ° On average across 39 countries, only 18% of respondents personally own a computer, and a further 15% have access to a computer in their household. Fewer than half (47%) personally own a smartphone.
  • ° Men, urban residents, youth, the wealthy, and well-educated people are more likely to own a computer than their peers.
  • ° Only 31% of respondents use the Internet on a daily basis.
  • ° Only 22% of households have electricity from the national grid that works “all of the time.” Access to reliable electricity shows little progress over the past decade.
  • ° On average across 39 countries, 42% of citizens have the necessary access to devices, electricity, and the Internet to participate effectively in the digital economy.
  • ° Moderate or full digital-economy readiness varies from more than three-fourths in Mauritius, Seychelles, Gabon, and Morocco to about one in 10 in Malawi and Madagascar.

The digital economy in the Global South is a paradox. On the one hand, it holds the promise of addressing socioeconomic inequalities by allowing citizens to engage in innovative economic activities and join the global digitalised economy. On the other hand, it has the potential to widen socioeconomic gaps by relegating Global South citizens to passive consumers who do not reap the economic benefits of the Internet, widening the gap between haves and have-nots.

Since the 1990s, the rapid expansion of the Internet has been closely linked to economic growth in many countries around the world, paving the way for digital economies (Ndoya & Asonga, 2024). Especially in the Global South, the digital economy is experiencing faster growth than the rest of the economy and thus plays a significant role in creating employment opportunities (Bukht & Heeks, 2018; OECD, 2024). In Mauritius and South Africa, digital-economy leaders on the African continent, the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector makes up a sizeable portion of the countries’ gross domestic products (GSMA, 2024; Mubika, 2025). But while the digital economy offers higher-than-average wages and new markets for start-ups, it also comes with an important downside: Those who are on the wrong side of the digital divide often do not have the necessary devices, reliable access to electricity and the Internet, or the skills necessary to use the Internet advantageously in the digital labour market (Ndoya & Asonga, 2024; Ragnedda & Gladkova, 2020).

Today, a combination of these barriers to entry excludes a majority of Africans not only from participating in the digital economy (e.g. provision of digital services such as website design), but also from the broader use of digital technology (e.g. collaboration via online platforms such as Zoom).

Afrobarometer Round 9 surveys conducted between late 2021 and mid-2023 in 39 countries show a substantial digital divide in Africa. While progress is being made to address this divide in some areas (e.g. investment in digital literacy programmes and the expansion of mobile network infrastructure), other structural factors, such as the limited supply of electricity, remain a drag on people’s ability to participate in the digital economy (Msafiri & Adjadeh, 2024).

The data show that smartphones continue to be Africans’ primary means of accessing the Internet, as access to personal computers is still limited across the continent. Four in 10 citizens report never using the Internet, with much higher rates of non-use among less educated and poorer citizens.

The digital economy readiness (DER) index developed in this paper quantifies which citizens have access to the necessary infrastructure and devices as well as whether they frequently use the Internet. Analysis of the DER index suggests a digital divide both across and within countries that replicates existing fault lines in access to infrastructure and resources.