Pakistan in 2022 remained among the worst performing countries in the world in terms of Internet access and digital governance, according to a report published on Monday.
Titled “Pakistan’s Internet Landscape 2022,” the report was released by Bytes For All, a human rights and advocacy organization, exploring in detail the relationship between human rights and information and communication technologies in Pakistan last year.
In terms of Internet access and overall governance, Pakistan has made some progress, but in the global context, the country remains among the worst performers, even within Asia, according to the report.
It highlights that despite an increase in Internet penetration, approximately 15 percent of the population still lacked Internet access and mobile or telecommunications services.
Add to this the lack of digital literacy and inclusion, one of the world’s largest gender gaps in access and the struggle to stay online due to reduced load and blackouts caused by an energy crisis and catastrophic flooding, and a grim picture emerges. saying.
He noted that Pakistan ranked last out of 22 countries in Asia overall and 79 globally in key indicators of availability, affordability, relevance and readiness.
In addition, a huge gender gap in both Internet access and access to mobile phones for women was pointed out as a major problem in the country.
The Bytes for All report said it highlighted Pakistan’s poor standing in terms of access for women, though it noted that the gap had narrowed slightly over time. In summary, Pakistan had the widest gender gap in mobile phone ownership of any country surveyed with only half of women owning a mobile phone, compared to more than 75 percent of men, it said.
The report also highlighted the failure to realize the potential of digital governance, saying that both the federal and provincial governments introduced a number of online initiatives, but the momentum for a digital Pakistan could not progress.
The report also highlighted the impact of the catastrophic floods in the second half of 2022 in this regard, stating that they proved to be the biggest challenge for the government, with 33 million people affected and extensive damage to infrastructure, including telecommunications and the Internet.
It also found that cybercrime in Pakistan experienced a steady increase, with more than 100,000 complaints registered in December 2022, marking the highest number in the last five years.
He further claimed that misinformation proliferated online as the government tried to stifle the online space. Internet banking transactions registered a strong increase of 51.7% in fiscal year 2022, reflecting the increasing adoption of digital financial services in Pakistan.
According to the report, internet banking users increased nearly 60 percent to 3.1 million in 2022.
(Only the headline and image in this report may have been modified by Business Standard staff; all other content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.