Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

FIGURE 4-3Internet users - Arab world, world, and selected non-Arab country groups by per capita GDPInternet users per 1,000 inhabitants1000900800700600500400300200WorldR 2 = 0.6939R 2 = 0.782210000 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000Per Capita GDP in dollarsWorld Country groups Arab countriesSource: World Bank database, Knowledge Assesssment Methodology (KAM), http://info.worldbank.org/etools/kam2/KAM_page5.aspIn the Arab worldas a whole, internetusage has noticeablyproliferated in thelast five years(Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Djibouti, Yemen,Mauritania, and Algeria) it is substantiallylower than the world average.In the Arab world as a whole, internetusage has noticeably proliferated in thelast five years. However, rates of internetuse in most of these countries are stillless than the prevailing global rates oftwenty-one per cent of the population.With the exception of four Arab countries–Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE–rates of internet usage in the Arab regionare lower than the world average. Thepopulation of a number of Arab countries–among them Egypt and Algeria, whichtogether represent one third of the totalpopulation of the Arab region–uses theinternet at rates lower than those prevailingin lower middle income countries.The proliferation of personalcomputers in Arab countries, as in others,is dependent on the costs of obtainingthem–which continue to go down–and onthe dissemination of the skills necessary touse them among groups of users– whichcontinue to grow. Some Arab countrieshave participated in programmes thataim to make low-cost computersavailable. Available information indicateshow important it is to expand suchprogrammes and encourage cooperationbetween concerned internationalparties–manufacturers and internationalorganisations–and concerned public andprivate sector parties in the Arab World,with the goal of arriving at designs betterfitted to local requirements. Computerassembly workshops have spread in someArab countries and personal computersare available on the local market at lowercost than imported models. Given that alocal assembly industry permits a broaderdiffusion of computer technology, itis worthwhile for relevant governmentbodies to offer it support, to setregional quality standards for computerproduction to safeguard the interests ofconsumers, and gradually to raise thelevel of production so that the industrycan respond in an on-going fashion totechnological development.Figure 4-3 shows clearly how thenumber of internet users grows hand inhand with per capita GDP in the world’s146 ARAB KNOWLEDGE REPORT 2009