The digital divide is an economic and social inequality with regard to access to, use of, or impact of information and communication technologies (ICT).U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). (1995). Falling through the net: A survey of the have nots in rural and urban America. Retrieved from, http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fallingthru.html. Factors causing the divide can vary depending on the country and culture, as can the potential solutions for minimizing or closing the divide.

The following is a list of some of the countries or areas by continent that have a digital divide along with contributing factors and steps the country is taking to resolve the issue.

Americas Argentina

The availability and access to the Internet in Argentina shows how the trends of a digital divide stay constant, even across different countries and cultures. Age is one of the main factors, and Argentina's statistics show a common disparity between ages. According to TNS Infratest, the age group with the highest rate of daily internet users in 2016 were users under 25. 91% of that age demographic were polled as being daily internet users. In contrast, the age group with the lowest rate were users over 55, with only 68% of that demographic being daily internet users. The older one is, the less likely they are to use Internet, and these statistics reflect that. The way that users are able to access the Internet can also show the status of Internet and how easily one can utilize it. In Argentina, 48% of users preferred to use a smartphone or tablet to a computer, 29% used them equally, and 16% preferred a computer to a smartphone or tablet.

Education The quality of life in Argentina is one of the highest in South and Latin America, according to InterNations. The children are well educated in school, and they are given numerous opportunities to pursue afterwards. The Government created a project named "Conectar Igualdad" (Connecting Equality) where they distribute netbooks to students and teachers in primary school, special needs schools, and state institutes. Since the project began nearly 4,000,000 netbooks have been dispersed amongst them to 400 different schools and 7,500 different teachers. The program works in three parts: an internet connection to Wi-Fi, an established internet connection through a reliable network (giving students Internet access anywhere, even at home), and making use of a syntonizer for Digital TV, allowing students access to interactive live programs. In 2011, the Government launched another program named "Escuelas de Innovacion" (Schools of Innovation). The main goal is to guarantee students better access to education and technology. The Government of Argentina creates new and innovative projects each year for students and teachers to have greater access to the Internet. It plays an important role in their education and is a great opportunity for students and teachers to close the gap in the digital divide.

Canada

The digital divide in Canada is impacted by several factors that include the differences in the availability of online connectivity resources in different locations across the country, levels of digital literacy, and economic levels.

Colombia

The digital divide in Colombia refers to the absence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and how it affects Colombian individuals and its society as a whole. The main lapse of technology and information lies in the physical access realm of things, where it is lacking tremendously. Though Internet in Colombia has made progress compared to recent years, the scholarly part of how ICTs are used are still in question. With this being said, government officials have made certain that access to ICTs be a priority in their country. In addition to physical access, literature review and types of internet use have also been main points of focus in regards to a solution for digital divide in Colombia.

Mexico

In Mexico, half of the population does not have access to the internet. In 2017, 50.4% of Mexican households had access to the internet and 45.4% had a computer. The digital divide in Mexico is related to low income, education, lack of proper infrastructure, and geographical location.

Reasons for the Divide Wealthier Mexicans are more likely than poorer Mexicans to have access to the internet. Because of certain dominant players monopolizing the telecommunication sector in Mexico, the majority of the Mexican population cannot afford the expensive services of television and internet.

Formal schooling is scarce in the poor regions of Mexico leaving many school-aged children without internet access. Those who have only received an elementary education are four times less likely to access or use the internet. In Mexico, 33% of primary and 48% of secondary schools have access to the internet and report having one computer. The government has addressed the issue by providing technologies that provide the capability to access the internet, but teachers and students are not instructed on how to use them.

Mexico's lack of proper fiber optic infrastructure causes less wireless broadband penetration in the country, which in turn affects the number of internet users in Mexico. Fiber optic infrastructure is found more in urban than rural areas. Urban internet usage is significantly higher than rural internet usage. In big cities such as Mexico City, citizens doubled the national average in terms of computer ownership. In 2000, the southern border states of Mexico had half as many phones per capita as the northern states.

United States

The digital divide in the United States has decreased since it was initially detected, however there are still portions of the country and certain groups that have limited or no access. Groups impacted by the digital divide can include certain income brackets, ethnicities, and the less educated. There is also a gap between rural and non-rural areas in America. Rural Americans have made large gains in adopting digital technology in recent years, but they remain less likely than nonrural adults to have home broadband, smartphones and other devices. This is not necessarily because of a financial issue, but because of the lack of access and the poor internet connection due to the lack of towers and phone lines. Mobile technology use among rural adults has risen rapidly, however they are still leaps and bounds behind Americans in larger cities that have more access. As of 2016, approximately 11.5% of the total U.S. population did not have internet access. Out of the 324,118,787 Americans, there were 286,942,362 total internet users (88.5%).

Africa All The digital divide is generally wider in Sub-Saharan Africa, as those countries experience widespread poverty. There are reportedly only 7% of the continent's inhabitants that are online. However, mobile phone usage is shockingly high at 72%. Only 18% of these phones are smartphones. The lack of Internet usage can partially be attributed to the fact that the most common language used on the Internet is English. However, it can also be attributed to the fact that the literacy rate in African countries is not very high. To combat the digital divide in Africa, economists have suggested stimulating the economy of the region. Bridging the digital divide was a major concern of those at the International Telecommunication Union Telecoms World conference in Durban, South Africa. The forum stressed the need for African governments to key into ITU's initiative for Africa, which emphasized infrastructure, investment, innovation and inclusivity. Furthermore, entrepreneurs were encouraged to address the specific challenges that Africans face in regards to accessing the Internet.

In a study conducted in 2011, they estimate that internet access is only available to roughly fourteen percent of the African population. This means that while the world's population is only composed of fifteen percent of Africans, around six percent of that subscribe to the internet.

The COVID-19 crisis has further emphasized the existing digital divide and especially the gender gap. It is estimated that 3.6 billion individuals are not connected to the Internet across the globe, including 900 million in Africa. Only 27 percent of women in Africa have access to the Internet and only 15 percent of them can afford to use it.European Investment Bank, 2020 Digitalization in Africa is also hampered by structural challenges, such as access to electricity, Internet connectivity, poor or weak infrastructure, policy environment and regulations, and the limited ability of individuals to use the digital solutions. It is worth noting that nearly 300 million Africans live further than 50 km from a fibre or cable broadband connection. Hence the lack of widespread availability of broadband Internet also represents a major hurdle, particularly for people living in rural and remote areas, to fully harness the potential of digital transformation.African Union, 2020

Poverty and Poor Infrastructure in Africa Even though technology has become more and more affordable, there is still a disparage between poor people's access to Internet and wealthy people's access to Internet. This becomes an issue once children begin school, as kids who are in low income school systems do not have access to technology in which they are not granted technical skills to develop to continue their education and later translate those skills to the workplace. This low level of computer literacy can be attributed to poor infrastructure and high costs to stay connected. In 2000, the entirety of Sub Saharan Africa had less telephone lines than Manhattan as a whole.

The poor infrastructure in Africa makes it much more difficult for economic development because countries are unable to develop technologically. Particularly, landlocked countries face major difficulties due to the fact that there are rarely any port cities in these countries, not giving them much trade power. It is estimated that investment in better roads increased investment in telecommunications would help further develop the infrastructure in the continent. Furthermore, the differentiating languages between the existing countries and pre-existing differences between different cultures provides a barrier to Inter-Continental development.

Internet Access According to 2011 estimates, about 13.5% of the African population has Internet access Internet in Africa. Africa accounts for 15% of the World population, but only 6.2% of the world's population is African. However, these statistics are skewed due to the fact that most of these Internet users come from South Africa, a country that has a much better infrastructure than the rest of the continent. The rest is mainly distributed among Morocco and Egypt, both countries that have better infrastructures than the majority of the countries in Africa, yet not as strong as that of South Africa. There have been many initiatives in the U.S. to push for better infrastructure which would eventually lead to better Internet access in Africa. Gallup did a survey in 2019 and again in 2021, which is an indicator of internet levels during COVID-19. Their survey noted that overall internet access rose 10% during those years.

Sub-Saharan Africa SSA is the fastest growing region in terms of Internet connectivity, with a compound annual growth rateCAGR of 4.6 percent and an additional 167 million projected subscribers by 2025, which will take the total subscriber base to just over 600 million, that is, approximately half of the total population.GSMA, 2019