Dashboard map for 2022 SDG Index Goal #9 ratings. Data source: sdgindex.org
Population using the internet (%)
The definition of this indicator is using the internet within the last three months, whether from a fixed or mobile network, aiming for 100% of the world population to use the internet by 2030.
Since the era of COVID-19, life has accelerated into the digital sphere. The path out of such a setback as the pandemic is to orient society and the economy around a green and digital transformation.
As of 2021, an estimated 4.9 billion people, or 63% of the world population, are using the internet, a growth from 3 billion, or 41%, in 2015. Of the internet users in 2021, 92% accessed from a mobile device, which is encouraging for rural areas in developing countries. But as we’ll see from the Index scores, the developed countries have a clear lead over developing countries. China has the most internet users, totalling 1.01 billion, or 71% of the population, followed by India with 833 million, or 61% of the population (thus scoring red for this indicator), then the US with 312 million and 95%.
The common thread of red scores in the 2022 scores are LDCs, small island developing states, states in conflict or post-conflict, and landlocked developing countries. A couple of middle-income countries are ciphers with red scores i.e., Philippines and some Central American countries. Reasons why each of these countries have such low internet usage include:
cost
availability of service
lack of ICT infrastructure
censorship
predominance of English on the internet
dearth of uses for the internet in the local tongue
There’s little question in 2022, to be without the internet in the developed world feels on par with the electricity going out - life halts. In developing country situations, foreign aid is needed to broach the digital divide. This is the path to achieving this indicator’s long-term objective of the whole world population using the internet.
Summary:
For OECD country readers, affirm your annual commitment to give 0.7% of your gross income as aid, aiming for all to have internet access by 2030.
For readers in countries off-track, use the internet, where available and affordable.
Mobile broadband subscriptions (per 100 population)
This indicator focuses on subscriptions to mobile networks with an added data plan offering internet access, aiming for 100 mobile broadband subscriptions per population of 100. Furthermore, it requires the connection to be running at broadband speed (250 kilobits per second or greater), whether used on a mobile phone, tablet, or any other device.
Many readers will have memories of an era before broadband was available, or when mobile devices were akin to what's now known as feature phones, with data and internet access, but without broadband capabilities. Now, using our phone as a modem, we're untethered. Mobile phone subscriptions already outnumber the world population, estimated at around 6 billion as of 2020.
The picture painted by the 2022 scores for this indicator tell a similar story to the indicator before, with similar countries represented in red - as such, the recommendations are similar. The foreign aid of readers must aid the shortfall of financing to develop cellular network infrastructure. Bringing people out of poverty allows them to afford whatever cost a subscription might entail, and with it the wonders of global connectivity, as well as some of the drawbacks, as we all experience in different guises of life online. But for the LDCs, a mobile subscription can mean remote access to education, health, and myriad social services, as well as e-commerce. It unleashes the unlimited possibilities the internet affords all those who use it. To connect at broadband speeds, on a mobile device, also mitigates the need for fixed landlines, as the installation of electrical or telephone lines in remote spaces is still non-existent in some areas.
Thus, for our DAC member country readers, we already know the recommendation on behalf of our developing counterparts. For those in countries off-track for this indicator with the means to afford a mobile broadband subscription, it’s as simple as subscribing to the mobile network operator of your choice.
Summary:
For OECD country readers, affirm your annual commitment to give 0.7% of your gross income as aid, aiming for mobile subscriptions for all by 2030.
For readers in countries off-track, get a mobile broadband subscription.
Logistics Performance Index: Quality of trade and transport-related infrastructure (worst 1-5 best)
This indicator measures a country's quality of trade logistics and transport infrastructure e.g., ports, roads, railroads and IT. 1 is the worst score and 5 the best, aiming for a 2030 score of 3.8. To give an idea of what 3.8 looks like, using 2018 Logistics Performance Index scores, the US scores 4.05 and China 3.75. Germany is the top-ranked, with a score of 4.20. The world Logistics Performance Index score is 2.72 in 2018.
Logistical systems like roads, ports and railroads need large investments of capital, often on the scale of billions of dollars. There’s almost nothing an individual can do to affect change at their level for this indicator. It’s good to know where the opportunities for improvements lie and where the global logistical blind spots are, but there’s little you can do to help achieve this indicator.
The Times Higher Education Universities Ranking: Average score of top 3 universities (worst 0-100 best)
This average of the top three universities in a country is from two lists of the top universities in the world. The 2030 goal is to reach an average score of 50. Most countries are close to on-track for this indicator, which is of benefit, as it'd be unfair to ask students, or prospective students, to increase the quality of the top 3 institutions in their country. Thus, you can aim for your home country to have an average score of 50 for this indicator by 2030, but it’s beyond the scope of the individual to affect this change.
Articles published in academic journals (per 1,000 population)
This indicator counts the articles cited in journals in the past three years, attributing the country based on the location of the institution of the work. The aim by 2030 is for 1.2 scientific and technical journal articles per 1,000 population.
This requires the infrastructure of a country’s educational system to foster students from early development, with a good foundation in STEM subjects into tertiary education. This allows for higher education at a post-graduate level, allowing for publication in journal articles.
We can only hope to ask readers in countries off-track to consider the commitment to join the ranks to publish scientific articles. Another more lateral solution could be academics from OECD countries migrating their careers, contributing to the stock of expertise and contribution of journal articles. Then, knowledge will accrue in developing countries, much as doctors from the West bring their expertise to assist in developed countries.
Summary: For readers in countries off-track, consider publishing in an academic journal.
Expenditure on research and development (% of GDP)
The 2030 objective for this indicator is 3.7% spending on R&D as a percentage of GDP. The 2020 world average is 2.63%, a total of $US1.7 trillion, up a little further than the earliest data point of 1.9% in 1996.
To anyone with an eye toward the global innovation centres, none of those countries and regions with green scores will be surprising. A digitised globe is dependent on technological innovation to grow, dislocating other countries without the budget to invest in R&D, or unable to prioritise it.
My suggestion to adapt this indicator to the level of the individual is left-of-centre. Based on the top 10 companies by spending on R&D, aim to spend the target of 3.7% of your annual income on the products of these companies.
Most of these companies are the most valuable in the world, and for income inequality reasons explored in the next chapter, I advocate refraining from giving them your custom. My suggestion is to spend on used goods, purchased by someone else before you.
I’ll list those companies below at the time of writing in 2021. For later years, check online for the top R&D spending companies for the given year:
For the above, if you’re buying a service e.g., Facebook or Google advertising, you’re paying them directly. I’m suggesting buying used hardware e.g., phones, computers, even components like an Intel CPU as part of a new PC. Computer stores can assemble these for you at little cost.
At the forefront of my thinking for this indicator, given the digital era we live in, is Moore’s law, the principle coined by Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, whereby the number of semiconducting transistors fitting on an integrated circuit doubles every two years. By this principle, it pays for all to observe it, noting the opportunity to upgrade every couple of years, by using second-hand goods. We each have an opportunity to continue to harness the pace of innovation and can enjoy the amazing concentration of capital the above companies have to inject into R&D spending. Of course, if everybody did this, would there be a primary market for the above companies? We’ll worry about it when it happens.
Summary: For readers in countries off-track, annually spend 3.7% of your gross income on used technology from the top R&D spending companies.
Researchers (per 1,000 employed population) *
By the definition of this indicator, researchers are professionals involved in the creation of new knowledge, products, processes, methods, systems, and management of such projects.
The most obvious candidate for OECD citizens to achieve this indicator by 2030 is to become a researcher. Rather than needing everybody to drop everything to become a researcher, we only need 15.6 per 1,000 employed population. Do you think you may have a calling for furthering the knowledge base of technology, and engaging in applied and pure science? Consider it if your country is one of the countries off-track for the indicator. Research can be outside the STEM disciplines - you could pursue research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.
Summary: For readers in countries off-track, consider becoming a researcher in academia or science.
Triadic patent families filed *
Triadic patent families are patents for the same invention, or other type of intellectual property, filed in three of the major patent offices:
European Patent Office
Japan Patent Office
US Patent and Trademark Office
The aim is 115 patents per million population, only requiring a handful of us to invent anything worthy of filing across these three patent offices.
If you live in an OECD country off-track, and fancy yourself an inventor, or have intellectual property you believe may be patentable, consider applying as a means of fostering innovation on behalf of your country.
Summary: For readers in countries off-track, consider filing a triadic patent family.
Gap in internet access by income (percentage points) *
This indicator aims by 2030 for there to be a 0% gap in internet access by income, meaning the difference in household access between the top and bottom income quartiles i.e., equality of access to the internet.
You may be familiar with the term ‘digital divide’, unique to the Digital Age and digital economy we find ourselves in. This indicator seeks to bridge the specific facet of the digital divide relating to internet access, whereas the ‘digital divide’ can relate to information and communication technologies (ICTs) without an internet connection.
Advances in internet technology hurtle toward the lightning-quick progression of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things. Socioeconomic reasons are a hurdle for internet access, which we must address when gaps present themselves, rather than dislocating individuals from societies and economies oriented toward life connected to the internet.
Accessibility, in the parlance of disability, may pose a barrier to accessing computers and the internet alike, which we need to address alongside the income disparities explored in this indicator, alongside a gender digital divide wherever it presents itself.
Rather than needing a traditional desktop PC to access the internet, most smartphone and tablet operating systems are very intuitive, able to be navigated by toddlers.
So how do we remedy this in the countries off-track from the 2030 aim of closing the gap on access to the internet between the top and bottom income quartiles? In tune with similar indicators relating to inequality, we should weigh the burden toward the more powerful party to attempt to compensate for its less powerful counterpart.
Besides income being the variable affecting internet access, other factors include education level as well as age. Elderly populations in these countries fall within the digital divide, as well as the elderly who are less educated.
Summary: For readers in countries off-track in the lowest income quartile, get household internet access, aiming to close the gap in internet access by income by 2030.
Female share of graduates from STEM fields at the tertiary level (%) *
This indicator aims for gender parity of graduates in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) at the tertiary level by 2030. Discrimination based on gender for women has maligned STEM - an example of occupational segregation.
Tertiary institutions offering STEM courses could mandate quotas adhering to gender parity, but such larger-scale options are outside our purview. For women in countries off-track for the indicator, enrol in a tertiary-level STEM course, and be on course to graduate by 2030. Although, this is placing the burden of responsibility on the maligned person. Therefore, compatriots of women considering STEM courses should encourage women, even giving preference for them to do so above non-STEM fields. Mentalities may heretofore have held people back from encouraging women to partake in STEM fields, but this needs to change, otherwise half the population is absent from this vital field.
Summary: For readers in countries off-track:
women: consider completing a STEM tertiary programme
men: encourage the women in your life to consider completing a STEM tertiary programme, aiming for gender equality in tertiary STEM graduates by 2030