Data-Driven Development

This section explains why data location, language, and limits are becoming more important than plain access. It also explores links between data and economic development.

From access to usage

Significant attention has been devoted to the uneven distribution of access to information and communication technology (ICT). As mobile phone penetration rises and access to the internet increases, the access gap is shrinking. Nine in ten people around the world were covered by a 2G cellphone signal in 2016 and 65 percent by 3G; by 2020 these figures are forecast to rise to 95 percent and more than 90 percent, respectively. The unconnected are increasingly those who are not interested in using or do not know how to use the internet rather than those who have no access or cannot afford to pay. Investment in digital literacy training is becoming as important as infrastructure.

The geography of data creation, distribution, and use is lopsided, resulting in a new global data divide. One manifestation of this gap is content concentration. More than half of the world's websites are in English (figure 2.11, panel b), yet only 984 million people speak English as a first or second language, 13 percent of the Earth's population. Another manifestation of the data divide is from where it flows. Just over one-third of IP traffic is generated by North America, with only 5 percent of the world's population (figure 2.11, panel a). On the other hand, the Middle East and Africa, home to 19 percent of the world's population, only generate 3 percent of global IP traffic.

Figure 2.11 Global internet protocol traffic and websites by language

New metrics of the data age

Data holes are reflected by uneven data consumption across communities, regions, and nations. The amount of data used per smartphone – measured as gigabytes of data per month or GB/user – varies tremendously. Smartphone users in North America consumed almost four times more data than those in the Middle East and Africa (figure 2.12, panel a). Average global use is forecast to grow more than fivefold between 2016 and 2022, from 1.9 GB per month to 11. Within North America, U.S. mobile broadband subscribers use more than 1.8 times as much data as their neighbor to the north, Canada, and 3.6 times more than their neighbor to the south, Mexico (figure 2.12, panel b).

Figure 2.12 Mobile data usage

Data usage is driven by factors such as coverage and device, with pricing a major influence. Data pricing varies significantly throughout the world, measured by the metric of price per GB per month or for comparability, US$/GB (figure 2.13, panel a). In absolute terms, average price ranges from US$5 per GB per month in South Asia to US$28 in high-income OECD nations. However, in relative terms, high-income OECD nations have the cheapest prices (0.9 percent of GDP per capita) compared with 12 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prices vary significantly in Sub-Saharan Africa, with relative data prices ranging from a little over 1 percent of gross national income per capita in Mauritius to 45 percent in Zimbabwe (figure 2.13, panel b).

Figure 2.13 Mobile data pricing

Being data starved is a constraint when it comes to rich multimedia educational, health, and livelihood content. However, many useful activities require just narrowband: a quick e-commerce transaction, a text message to check produce prices, or a phone call in an emergency. Hourly, daily, and weekly prepaid options can enhance affordability in these circumstances.

Data and economic development

Could the data divide be affecting economic growth in developing nations? Various studies have looked at the impact of ICTs on economic growth. As businesses and consumers obtain more high-speed connectivity, they have realized important benefits in terms of efficiency, new businesses models, market information, and so on. Some research has focused on the impact of data on the economy. Four studies looking at public sector open data found impacts ranging from 0.4 percent to 4.1 percent of GDP. A European Parliament report states that big data and the data-driven economy will bring 1.9 percent in additional GDP growth by 2020.

A Deloitte study suggests that data usage affects economic growth. Based on mobile data usage for 14 countries between 2005 and 2010, the study found that a doubling of mobile data consumption added 0.5 percentage point to GDP growth a year.

While the study suggests an econometric link between data consumption and economic growth, the exact reasons seem fuzzy. It is puzzling, given that most internet traffic is video entertainment, which is not likely to have a tremendous economic effect. Other studies suggest that it may not be the quantity of data that is important, but rather the value of the data. In many developing countries, economic impacts have been noted from basic cell phone voice calls and narrowband 2G applications such as text messaging or mobile money, which do not use much data. For example, a study of grain markets in Niger found that prices dropped 3 percent after the introduction of mobile phones because of better access to market information. A study analyzing the economic impact of mobile money in Kenya found its use decreases prices of competing money transfer services and increases levels of financial inclusion. An econometric analysis on the impact of telecommunications in Senegal found no statistically significant effect from broadband; on the other hand, plain mobile communications had a significant contribution, with each percentage point increase in mobile penetration contributing 0.05 percent to GDP. These findings suggest that the data nuggets are small, often lost in the sea of video and social media traffic, and sometimes not even transmitted over the internet.