Their remittance inflows account for nearly 10 percent of Philippine GDP. Referred to as “modern-day heroes,” the overseas workers are one of the main drivers behind the country’s economic growth.
MANILA: Philippine labor migration stakeholders welcomed on Friday the establishment of a new agency aimed at protecting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers - 2.2 million people who contribute billions of dollars to the country’s economy. Poverty, illiteracy, limited electricity access and a lack of digital skills continue to challenge the “digitally excluded,” the ITU added. Younger people, men and urbanites are more likely to use the Internet than older adults, women and those in rural areas, with the gender gap more pronounced in developing nations. Internet access is often unaffordable in poorer nations - almost three-quarters of people have never been online in the 46 least-developed countries.
The ITU cited measures such as lockdowns, school closures and the need to access services like remote banking.īut the growth has been uneven. The number of users globally grew by more than 10 percent in the first year of the Covid crisis - by far the largest annual increase in a decade. We are determined to ensure no one will be left behind,” said ITU secretary-general Houlin Zhao.
“ITU will work to make sure the building blocks are in place to connect the remaining 2.9 billion. The agency said the estimated number of people who have gone online rose from 4.1 billion in 2019 to 4.9 billion this year, partially due to a “Covid connectivity boost.”īut even among those Internet users, many hundreds of millions might only go online infrequently, using shared devices or facing connection speeds that hamper their Internet use. The UN’s International Telecommunication Union estimated that 96 percent of those 2.9 billion live in developing countries. GENEVA: Some 2.9 billion people - 37 percent of the world’s population - have still never used the Internet, the United Nations said Tuesday, despite the Covid-19 pandemic driving people online.
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