New Zealand Is The 28th Best Country To Live In, According To Digital Quality Of Life Index

The fourth annual edition of the Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL) reports that New Zealand is the 28th best country to live in regarding digital wellbeing. That is out of 117 countries, or 92% of the global population. Out of the five fundamental digital life pillars, New Zealand’s worst score is for internet affordability (ranking 43rd globally), and the best is for internet quality (17th). New Zealand’s e-government services come 18th, while e-infrastructure and e-security rank 24th and 34th, respectively. In the face of waging inflation, fixed broadband internet has become less affordable worldwide for the second year in a row, prying the global digital divide even further.

Surfshark’s study evaluates countries based on five fundamental digital wellbeing pillars: internet quality, e-government, e-infrastructure, internet affordability, and e-security. This year, New Zealand has made it into the top 30 globally, ranking 28th in the final index and 1st in Oceania. The country has dropped by five positions since last year's edition, falling from 23rd to 28th. Out of all index pillars, New Zealand's weakest spot is internet affordability, which needs to improve by 1050% to match the best-ranking country's result (Israel's).

Internet quality in New Zealand is strong, and on a global scale fixed broadband internet is better than mobile

New Zealand's internet quality, considering internet speed, stability, and growth, ranks 17th in the world and is 37% better than the global average. Regarding internet speed alone, New Zealand's fixed broadband internet ranks higher than mobile in the global ranking, operating at 186.3 Mbps/s (16th globally). Meanwhile, the mobile internet comes 23rd (91.3 Mbps/s).

Compared to Australia, New Zealand's mobile internet is 34% slower, while broadband is 2 times faster. Since last year, mobile internet speed in New Zealand has improved by 19.4% (14.8 Mbps), and fixed broadband speed has grown by 21% (32.4 Mbps). In comparison, Singapore's residents enjoyed mobile speeds up to 104 Mbps/s and fixed to as much as 261 Mbps/s - that's the fastest internet in the world this year.

Internet in New Zealand is not that affordable compared to global standards, there's quite some room for improvement

New Zealand's internet affordability ranks 43rd in the world. Residents can buy 1GB of mobile internet in New Zealand for as cheap as 3 minutes 45 seconds of work per month, 12 times more than in Australia. Additionally, compared to Israel, which has the most affordable mobile internet on the planet (5s per 1GB), New Zealanders work 46 times more. Its affordability improved since the previous year, making people work 39 seconds less to afford the same mobile internet service.

Fixed broadband costs New Zealand citizens around 2 hours 3 minutes of their precious working time each month. To afford it, New Zealanders have to work 6 times more than Israeli citizens, for whom the most affordable package costs only 19 min of work monthly. Since last year, broadband internet has become more affordable in New Zealand, making people work 27 minutes less to afford fixed broadband internet service.

The global digital divide is now deeper than ever

Globally, broadband is getting less affordable each year. Looking at countries included in last year's index, people have to work six minutes more to afford broadband internet in 2022. In some countries, such as Ivory Coast and Uganda, people work an average of 2 weeks to earn the cheapest fixed broadband internet package. A similar trend was observed last year. With the current inflation, the pressure on low-income households that need the internet has become even heavier. Surfshark's study also found that countries with the poorest internet connection have to work for it the longest.

"While countries with a strong digital quality of life tend to be those of advanced economies, our global study found that money doesn't always buy digital happiness," – explains Gabriele Racaityte-Krasauske, Head of PR at Surfshark. "That is why, for the fourth year in a row, we continue analyzing the Digital Quality of Life to see how different nations keep up with providing the basic digital necessities for their citizens. Most importantly, our research seeks to show the full picture of the global digital divide that millions of people are suffering from."

The best and the worst countries to live in by the digital quality of life

Overall, 7 out of 10 highest-scoring countries are in Europe, which has been the case for the past three years. Israel ranks 1st in DQL 2022 and Denmark is the runner-up in the second place. Germany ranks 3rd, and France and Sweden round up the top five of the 117 evaluated nations. Congo DR, Yemen, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Cameroon are the bottom five countries.

Regionally, the US stands out in the Americas as a country with the highest digital quality of life, while Israel takes the leading position in Asia. Among African countries, people in South Africa enjoy the highest digital life quality. In Oceania, New Zealand takes the lead outperforming Australia in various digital areas this year.

METHODOLOGY

The 2022 DQL research examined more than 7.2 billion people regarding five core pillars and 14 underpinning indicators that provide a comprehensive measure. The study is based on the United Nations open-source information, the World Bank, Freedom House, the International Communications Union, and other sources. This year's study includes seven (6%) more countries than DQL 2021, most of which are African countries.

The final 2022 Digital Quality of Life report and an interactive country comparison tool can be found here:

https://surfshark.com/dql2022

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