The fourth annual edition of the Digital Quality Index (Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL)), reports that Morocco ranks 71st in the world in terms of digital well-being, out of 117 countries, or 92% of the world’s population.
Overall and for three years, 7 of the 10 best rated countries are in Europe. Israel ranks first in the 2022 DQL, pushing Denmark into second place after two years of reign. Germany 3rd, is on the podium while France and Sweden complete the top 5.
At the very bottom of the ranking in the last five places we find DR Congo, Yemen, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Cameroon in good red lantern. At the regional level, the United States dominates the American continent while Israel occupies the leading position in Asia.
In Africa, the people of South Africa enjoy the best continental digital quality. In Oceania, New Zealand leads, for once ahead of Australia in various digital areas this year.
The DQL study is conducted by cybersecurity firm Surfshark which calculates the DQL index based on the impact of the five fundamental pillars of digital life that rate countries. These pillars are Internet accessibility and quality, online infrastructure, e-security and e-government.
This year, Morocco arrives at (71st rank) to therefore appear in the top 80 of the final index. The Kingdom is the third country in Africa and has improved its ranking by 13 places compared to last year’s edition, when it ranked 84th.
Of all the pillars of the index, Morocco’s weakest point is e-government, which needs to improve by 90% to match the result of the top-ranked country (United States). As such, the Kingdom ranks 88th in the world, online administration being its worst score while the best is for electronic security (42nd). Internet accessibility in Morocco ranks 78th (8 places lost).
In terms of internet quality and considering the speed, stability and growth of the internet, Morocco ranks 83rd in the world and is below 19% of the world average and has lost 34 places in the standings. The infrastructure also comes in 83rd place by doing, lesser evil, standing still.
If the quality of the Internet in Morocco is half fig half grape, on a global scale, mobile Internet is better than the quality of fixed Internet, the former surpassing fixed broadband in the world ranking because running at 41Mbps (56th globally). Fixed broadband Internet comes in 91st position (28.8Mbps/s). But this trend is global, fixed broadband Internet has become less affordable around the world for the second consecutive year, further widening the global digital divide.
Compared to Algeria, Morocco’s mobile internet is 2 times faster, while broadband is 3 times faster. Since last year, mobile internet speed in Morocco has improved by 5.4% (2.1Mbps) and fixed broadband speed has increased by 13.3% (3.4Mbps). By comparison, residents of Singapore, where the internet is the fastest in the world, enjoyed mobile speeds of up to 104 Mbps and fixed speeds of up to 261 Mbps.
Internet in Morocco is barely affordable by world standards, there is plenty of room for improvement. Internet accessibility in Morocco ranks 78th in the world. Residents can buy 1 GB of mobile internet in Morocco for 10 minutes and 29 seconds of work per month, twice as much as in Algeria.
However, compared to Israel, which has the most affordable mobile internet on the planet (5s for 1GB), Moroccans have to work 152 times more. Accessibility has decreased since last year and by the way it’s 90 seconds more work to afford the same mobile Internet service. Since last year, broadband internet has become less affordable in Morocco, forcing people to work 6 minutes longer to afford it.
Another bitter observation from the cybersecurity company Surfshark, the global digital divide from which millions of people suffer, is widening more and more. Broadband is becoming less and less affordable every year. People have to work an average of six minutes longer in 2022 to afford high-speed Internet.
Worse, in some countries, like Ivory Coast and Uganda, people work weeks on average to earn the cheapest fixed broadband internet package. The same trend was seen last year with the current inflation and greater pressure on low income households needing the internet. The Surfshark study also found that countries with weaker internet connections need to work longer.