Digital Africa Index
What is the Index?
While the transformative socio-economic impacts of digital technologies have been firmly established, there remains a persistent digital divide in Africa, where around two-thirds of the population does not currently use mobile internet. Based on recent connectivity trends, it will take another 30 years for the usage gap to close in Africa.
Against this backdrop, the GSMA has launched two composite indices: the Digital Nations and Society Index (‘DNSI’) and the Digital Policy and Regulatory Index (‘DPRI’). The two new indices serve complementary but distinct purposes. The DNSI provides a comprehensive assessment of digital adoption and use by consumers, businesses and government, while the DPRI provides an evidence-based assessment of the policy levers that Governments can pull in order to accelerate their digital objectives. By using the two indices together, policymakers, operators and other stakeholders in every African country can identify which areas of digital adoption and usage are lagging, and what the policy bottlenecks are.
Performance on both indices is scored within a range of 0 to 100 across a number of indicators, with a higher score representing stronger performance. This web tool allows you to explore the data used in the DNSI and DPRI, and to compare markets across a range of metrics. You can also access the accompanying Digital Africa Index report, the methodology document and download the Index data.