World Economic Forum: Action Required to Address Digital Inequalities Post-COVID

“A world leader once said ‘a decade can go by without any real news and then you can feel a decade happening in a week.’ I feel that a decade has happened in the past year,” commented Børge Bende, president of the World Economic Forum (WEF), speaking during a press conference highlighting the findings from the organization’s 16thGlobal Risks Report 2021.

This has arisen from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought about substantial changes to the political, economic and social landscape. During the webinar, the panellists emphasized the growing importance of technology, both in helping governments and businesses function amid the ongoing crisis, and for the rebuilding of the world’s economy going forward.

Peter Giger, group chief risk officer, Zurich Insurance Group, explained that COVID-19 had accelerated the so-called ‘fourth industrial revolution’ by rapidly expanding areas such as e-commerce, online education, digital healthcare and remote working. “These shifts will continue to transform human interactions and livelihoods long after COVID is behind us,” he outlined.

This move towards a “digital economy” offers great opportunities but also poses the risk of more global inequality by the creation of an “underclass” of people who are excluded from work as a result of a lack of internet and educational access. For instance, the report noted that internet usage ranges from 87% of the population in high-income countries to under 17% in low-income countries. Widening inequality gaps is particularly dangerous at this time of substantial polarization and the biggest peacetime economic slump in history, as it will threaten global stability, according to Bende. ..

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