Press Release
Surfshark’s 5th annual Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL) ranks Namibia 110th in the world, dropping by seven places from last year. Out of the Index’s 5 pillars, Namibia performed best in internet affordability, claiming 86th place, while facing challenges in internet quality, ranking 115th. The nation ranks 98th in e-security, 102nd in e-government, and 110th in e-infrastructure. In the overall Index, Namibia lags behind Angola (109th) and South Africa (72nd). Overall, African countries lag behind in their digital quality of life, Namibia taking 17th place in the region.
“It’s troubling to see that Namibia ranks so low in the DQL Index. In many nations, ‘digital quality of life’ has merged into the broader concept of overall ‘quality of life’. There’s no other way to look at it now that so many daily activities, including work, education, and leisure, are done online. That’s why it’s crucial to pinpoint the areas in which a nation’s digital quality of life thrives and where attention is needed, which is the precise purpose of the DQL Index”, says Gabriele Racaityte-Krasauske, Surfshark’s spokeswoman.
Namibia’s internet quality is 43% lower than the global average.
- Fixed internet averages 21 Mbps in Namibia. To put that into perspective, the world’s fastest fixed internet — Singapore’s — is 300 Mbps. Meanwhile, the slowest fixed internet in the world — Yemen’s — is 11 Mbps.
- Mobile internet averages 24 Mbps. The fastest mobile internet — the UAE’s — is 310 Mbps, while the world’s slowest mobile internet — Venezuela’s — is 10 Mbps.
Compared to Angola, Namibia’s mobile internet is 28% slower, while fixed broadband is 14% slower. Since last year, mobile internet speed in Namibia has improved by 8%, while fixed broadband speed has grown by 14%.
The internet is unaffordable in Namibia compared to other countries.
- Namibians have to work 5 hours 38 minutes a month to afford fixed broadband internet. While this is less than average, it is 19 times more than in Romania, which has the world’s most affordable fixed internet (Romanians have to work 18 minutes a month to afford it).
- Namibians have to work 1 hour 50 minutes 53 seconds a month to afford mobile internet. This is 7 times more than in Luxembourg, which has the world’s most affordable mobile internet (Luxembourgers have to work 16 minutes a month to afford it).
Namibia is 98th in the world in e-security — 5 places higher than last year.
The e-security pillar measures how well a country is prepared to counter cybercrime, as well as how advanced a country’s data protection laws are. Namibia outperforms Angola, which ranks 112th, but lags behind South Africa, which takes 72nd place in the e-security pillar. Namibia is unprepared to fight against cybercrime, the country has very low data protection laws.
Namibia is 110th in e-infrastructure and 102nd in e-government.
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). Namibia’s internet penetration is low (52% — 104th in the world), and the country ranks 112th in network readiness.
The e-government pillar shows how advanced a government’s digital services are and the level of Artificial Intelligence (AI) readiness a country demonstrates. Namibia’s e-government is well below the global average.
Globally, the internet is more affordable than last year.
- Fixed internet is 11% more affordable than last year—on average, people have to work 42 minutes less a month to afford it.
- Mobile internet is 26% more affordable than last year—people have to work 41 minutes less to afford it.
METHODOLOGY
The DQL Index 2023 examined 121 nations (92% of the global population) based on five core pillars that consist of 14 indicators. The study is based on the United Nations’ open-source information, the World Bank, and other sources. This year’s study includes four more countries than DQL 2022, reaffirming Surfshark’s commitment to global representation. Namibia’s full profile in the 2023 Digital Quality of Life report and an interactive country comparison tool can be found here: https://surfshark.com/dql2023?country=NA
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