More than half of the population is included in the digital world, according to a survey of the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), which puts Brazil near the world average. In Brazil, 51.2% of the studied population has access to cellular telephone, computer and internet at home, while 49.1% overall average mark. In the global ranking of digital inclusion, Brazil is in 72nd place among 156 countries surveyed, the survey said the FVG, held in partnership with Telefonica Foundation Live, released on Tuesday 31, the FGV.
For the economist Marcelo Neri, research coordinator, with 51.2% of digital access, Brazil is in the middle of the world.
“Brazil stand in the middle of the world is a recurrent situation in research, whether in income, in digital inclusion. This can be understood as the glass half full or half empty. Hopefully fill the cup, “said the researcher, explaining that the study used statistical data from Gallup and the 2010 Census.
Among 156 countries surveyed, the ten people who have more access to the phone, the telephone, the computer and the internet at home are Sweden 95.8%, Iceland 95.5%, Singapore 95.5% , New Zealand 93.5%, Netherlands 92.5%, Ireland 92.3%, Luxembourg 92%, Taiwan 91.8%, Switzerland 91.3%, and Australia 91%.
Digital Slums
Survey data provide important information that caught the attention of researchers as the index of digital inclusion in the slums of the Complexo to Alemão, Favela da Maré and Rocinha are communities that have the lowest rates in the city of Rio, but are percentages that exceed the average of Brazil and the global average.
At Alemão, 50.8% of residents over 15 have access to landline and cell phone and computer and internet at home, the lowest rate recorded in Rio, which has 71.5% of its population included in the digital world . Jacarezinho (54.5%), Maré (55.9%), and Rocinha (57.5%) are the other three worst rates. The lowest percentage recorded in the communities of Rio are higher than the average for Brazil (51.2%) and the world average (49.1%).
“The Complexo do Alemão, which is a huge slum, it’s good portrait of Brazil and the world: it is set in a rich region, which has economies of scale, with a market side. There are many hacks into the grid, practices that the research can not compute and that can influence the rates, “said Marcelo Neri.
While slums are with inclusion levels below 60%, the administrative region of the lagoon (Lagoa, Ipanema, Leblon, Sao Conrado and Gávea) records the highest rate the city, 88.9%. That does not match the administrative region of Moema in Sao Paulo, the record holder with 93% of residents with access to phone, computer, internet and telephone. The Jardim Paulista is another champion: 92.3%.
According to Marcelo Neri, nine of the ten districts with the highest levels of social inclusion are in Sao Paulo.
Capital cities and state capitals
The largest digital inclusion are Florianópolis (77%), Vitória (76.6%), Curitiba (75.8), Belo Horizonte (74%), Porto Alegre (72%), São Paulo (71 7%) and Rio de Janeiro (71.5%). The municipalities where residents have more access to cellular telephone and internet at home are São Caetano do Sul (82.6%), Santos (78.1%), Florianópolis (77%), Vitória (76.6%), Curitiba (75.8), and Santo André (74.8%).
São Paulo (71 7%), Rio de Janeiro (71.5%) and Brasilia (71.2%) appear in places 19, 20 and 21, respectively.
To the economist, the cities with high rates of social inclusion have a tradition of good indicators of quality of life and education, because they are smaller, stand near the capital and take advantage of a network economy, and invest in education.
It is in the states of Maranhao, Piaui, Para and Roraima who are the worst rates of digital inclusion. The last three cities are ranked Fernando Falcão (MA), with only 3.7% of the population with access to digital; Chaves (PA) with 3.7% and Uiramutã (RR) with 4.51%.
Millennium Development Goals
FVG’s research, according to economist Marcelo Neri, coordinator of the work aims to be a tool to help work towards the achievement of Goal 8 of the MDGs for the period 2000 to 2015, which contains inclusion indicators Digital
Prior to starting the FGV survey, it was proposed an indicator of access to digital media, the global Itic, which was applied to 156 countries and 5,550 municipalities
Mobile, inclusion tool
According to the survey, the cell is the major vehicle of inclusion. Among the top ten countries to make greater use of mobile phones, seven are Arabs, which to the economist, represents the true Arab spring.
With 99% of individuals over 18 years with access to cell, are Iceland, Singapore, UAE, Jordan, Finland, Bahraini, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In tenth place, with 98% of the population using mobile phone, comes Oman. The Brazil is in 74th place, with 87% of the population with access to phones.
The base of this pyramid is in Africa, with less access to phone, but even so, these countries still show in the list, says the economist, highlighting the ability of the cell to reach poor and remote communities.
Congo (44%), Mali (40%), Burkina Faso (34%), Liberia (31%), Central African Republic (20%), Burundi (20%) and Ethiopia (9%) are among the worst countries surveyed on access to phone, all in Africa.
“Mobile is a technology that is where the poor are. Therefore, must carry educational content for mobile phone platform, which is in the hands of people who want to include. The cell is where people are. It is a platform that generates social inclusion, “says the economist, explaining that two thirds of Brazil’s poor have cell phones.
Phones can not buy happiness
but for the Brazilians, cell can not buy happiness, it says. In the countries surveyed, Brazil is one of the few that has not registered a jump in the degree of happiness when the citizen is declared to have access to a phone, which to the economist. The ten countries where the level of happiness more rises from the cell phone access are Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Romania, El Salvador, Singapore, Uruguay, Cambodia, Poland, Israel and Algeria.
In Brazil, the city that most cell phone use is Chapadão do Céu, in Goiás, with 97.9% people using the device, then the cities of Tio Hugo, Rio Grande do Sul (97.1%) and Capivari do Sul (96.9%) . Among the capitals, the champions of the phone is in use Palmas, Tocantins (95.7%), Brasilia (95.4%) and Goiânia, Goiás (94.6%). The Rio is in 24th place with 90.2%.
For Marcelo Neri, this position may be due to Rio’s large population of elderly, more attached to traditional platforms such as the telephone
via G1 – Half of the population is included in the digital world, says FGV – Technology News and Games.
