Africa is the region with the lowest percentage of internet users in the world. According to recent data by Internet World Stats, only 28.6% of people are online, compared to 44.2% in Asia, 73.9% in Europe and 89% in North America.

This has historically been credited to Africa’s infrastructure deficit and consequential high costs of connectivity. However, a new report suggests that the internet’s lack of locally-relevant content is also a significant hurdle to adoption.

[…] “Much of the international content and services are relevant in many countries worldwide – this is true of social-networking services, educational access, and, of course, entertainment. However, we also note the importance of locally created content, given the relevance of the content in the local context.”

Internet Society’s research shows that Africa generally lacks locally relevant online content – with African languages being vastly under-represented. As it stands, over half of all websites globally are in English despite it being a native language for about 5% of the world’s population. More.

See: How We Made It In Africa

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