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The digital divide is the gap between people who have meaningful access to digital technology and the skills to use it, and those who have not. Sometimes called digital inequality or digital exclusion, it is one of the defining inequalities of our time. As more of daily life moves online, from education and healthcare to employment and public services, the cost of being left on the disadvantaged side of that gap keeps rising. The scale is striking. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency for digital technologies, an estimated 6 billion people, about 74 percent of the world's population, were online in 2025. That still leaves more than a quarter of the world's population offline (ITU, Facts and Figures 2025).

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The three levels of the digital divide

It is tempting to picture the divide as a simple matter of who owns a computer. However, the reality is layered. Scheerder, van Deursen and van Dijk (2017) describe the digital divide across three levels, and understanding all three is the difference between a solution that works and one that only looks like it does.

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The first-level divide concerns access: whether a person can obtain a device and an internet connection at all. In many of the communities we work with, a reliable laptop or a stable connection is simply out of reach, whether because hardware is unaffordable, infrastructure is missing, or both.

The second-level divide concerns skills and usage: whether a person can actually use the technology in front of them. A device with no one to show you how to use it is an opportunity that stays locked. This is why access alone never closes the gap, and why so much meaningful work is really about training and confidence. It is also why we work so closely with trusted educational partners on the ground, the teachers, trainers, and local organisations who turn a delivered device into real learning.

The third-level divide concerns outcomes: whether a person can turn access and skills into tangible benefits, finding work, continuing an education, running a business, reaching a public service (Scheerder et al., 2017). This is the level that ultimately matters, and what we aim for with every project.

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A response that delivers a device but ignores skills, or builds skills with no path to real-world outcomes, addresses only part of the problem. The most durable progress works on all three levels at once.

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What causes the digital divide?

The divide closely follows economic development. ITU data shows that in high-income countries an estimated 94 percent of people used the internet in 2025, against just 23 percent in low-income countries (ITU, Facts and Figures 2025). The main drivers are the cost of devices and connectivity, gaps in physical infrastructure, and differences in digital skills and education. These factors reinforce one another: where incomes are low, hardware is unaffordable; where infrastructure is sparse, even an affordable device cannot connect.

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A global problem and a local one

Closing the gap in the regions where access is lowest can change the trajectory of a school, a clinic, or a young entrepreneur. But the divide is not only a distant problem. In wealthier countries, including across Europe, people on low incomes, older adults, and others can still find themselves shut out of an increasingly digital society. The COVID-19 pandemic made this visible when learning, work, and essential services moved online almost overnight, and those without a device or the skills to use one were left behind. The internet access gap, in other words, runs through prosperous cities as well as remote regions.

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Why the gap persists

It would be reasonable to assume that as technology spreads, the divide naturally closes. The progress is real, but also uneven: the ITU notes that while connectivity is rising, "the world is inching towards universal access at a time that it should be sprinting," and significant gaps remain in the most vulnerable communities (ITU, 27 November 2024). As digital tools, including artificial intelligence, increasingly shape how people learn, work, and access opportunity, the gap widens: those who are connected keep building on what they have, while the excluded fall further behind. Bringing everyone along remains a serious challenge.

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Closing the divide is also an environmental opportunity

There is a connection here that is easy to miss. Every year, organisations retire enormous quantities of working IT equipment, much of which still has years of useful life. Electronic waste is already the world's fastest-growing waste stream: a record 62 million tonnes was generated globally in 2022, of which only 22.3 percent was documented as formally collected and recycled (UN, Global E-waste Monitor 2024).

When working hardware is instead securely wiped, refurbished, and redeployed, the same device that would have become waste becomes a tool that helps close the divide. This is the principle at the heart of our work: bridging the digital divide and reducing electronic waste are not two separate missions but a single act seen from two sides. You can read more about our work on e-waste on our website.

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What closing the gap looks like in practice

Since 2003, we have worked to turn this idea into outcomes, giving high-quality used computers a second life in schools, health centres, women's empowerment initiatives, and community organisations, and pairing that hardware with the training that makes it useful. The work spans both the global and the local: international projects across Africa and beyond, and digital inclusion efforts closer to home in Belgium and Europe.

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Our impact at a glance

More than 1.8 million ICT devices given a second life.

Over 6.6 million beneficiaries reached.

13,601 projects supported since 2003.

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A divide that mirrors other inequalities

The digital divide rarely stands on its own. It tends to follow the lines of inequality a society already has, so the people most likely to be excluded are often those already facing other disadvantages: women and girls, people on low incomes, and those with less access to education. Where these gaps overlap, a lack of digital access only deepens the inequalities that were already there. The digital divide is wide, and the forces driving it are strong. But it is not fixed. Through access, skills, and outcomes, supported by a model that turns yesterday's hardware into tomorrow's opportunity, progress happens one device and one community at a time.

Could your organisation help close the divide? Learn how to donate your company's IT equipment, and discover our work.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the digital divide in simple terms?

The digital divide is the gap between people who can meaningfully access and use digital technology and the internet, and those who cannot, whether because of cost, infrastructure, or skills.

What are the three levels of the digital divide?

Access (whether you can get a device and connection), skills (whether you can use them), and outcomes (whether you can turn that use into real benefits like work or education), as set out by Scheerder, van Deursen and van Dijk (2017).

What causes the digital divide?

Primarily the cost of devices and connectivity, gaps in infrastructure, and differences in digital skills and education, which tend to reinforce one another.

What is the difference between the digital divide and digital inclusion?

The digital divide is the problem (the gap); digital inclusion is the response (the effort to close it).

How can companies help close the digital divide?

One direct way is donating retired but working IT equipment to be securely wiped, refurbished, and redeployed in schools and community projects.

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Sources

ITU press release, "Global Internet use continues to rise but disparities remain," 27 November 2024.

United Nations (UNITAR & ITU), The Global E-waste Monitor 2024. https://ewastemonitor.info/the-global-e-waste-monitor-2024/ · https://unitar.org/about/news-stories/press/global-e-waste-monitor-2024-electronic-waste-rising-five-times-faster-documented-e-waste-recycling

Scheerder, A., van Deursen, A., & van Dijk, J. (2017), "Determinants of Internet skills, uses and outcomes. A systematic review of the second- and third-level digital divide," Telematics and Informatics. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0736585317303192

ITU, Facts and Figures 2025. https://www.itu.int/itu-d/reports/statistics/2025/10/15/ff25-internet-use/