India ranks 47th on Inclusive Internet Index 2018

India has ranked 47th out of 86 countries on Inclusive Internet Index 2018. This year’s ranking marks a drop of 11 spots as compared 36^th rank in 2017.

About Inclusive Internet Index:

Inclusive Internet Index is commissioned by Facebook and is conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

• Inclusive Internet Index 2018 assesses the performance of countries in four categories of inclusion viz. Accessibility, Affordability, Relevance and Readiness.
• It covers 91% of world population residing in 86 countries.

Highlights of Inclusive Internet Index 2018:

Drop in India’s ranking in Inclusive Internet Index 2018 as compared to previous year has been attributed to low usage and poor quality.

• India ranks 62^nd in Availability, 39^th in Affordability, 37^th in Relevance and 23^rd in Readiness.
• Internet connectivity across the indexed countries grew 8.3% over the past year, with low-income countries registering a stellar growth of 65.1%.
• Across all the indexed countries, on an average, men are 33.5 per cent more likely to have Internet access than women.
• The report has outlined that cost of mobile broadband data plans in lower-income countries decreased about 17.3 per cent as compared to last year.
• Approximately 8 billion people in the world still do not have Internet access. 
• 67 per cent of respondents in the survey believe that access to the Internet is a human right.
• Sweden has topped the overall ranking in Inclusive Internet Index 2018, followed by Singapore and United States occupying the 2^nd and 3^rd spots respectively.
• Category toppers are: Availability – Singapore, Affordability – Canada, Relevance – Poland, Readiness – Malaysia.

Inclusive Internet Index 2018 – Top 5: