Bangladesh in bottom 10 in Surfshark’s recent Digital Quality of Life Index 2020
Tech
When people say "work from home," the suffix "online" is generally understood. So as companies consider the future of in-person offices, employees face working full time with whatever hope-and-a-prayer home internet they've cobbled together.
Such realities will vary widely by location, according to Surfshark's recent Digital Quality of Life Index 2020, which assessed 85 countries on five metrics: internet affordability, internet quality, electronic infrastructure, electronic government and electronic security.
The 10 countries with the best digital quality of life, or DQL, were Denmark, Sweden, Canada, France, Norway, Netherlands, the UK, Israel, Japan and Poland. The bottom 10 were Lebanon, Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Guatemala, Pakistan, Algeria and Honduras.
Those tracking the "America in decline" narrative will note that the US didn't make the top 15 in four out of the five DQL metrics (it was third in e-government) and came in 22nd in the overall global ranking, behind Estonia and Lithuania.
Although higher per-capita gross domestic product had a strong correlation with better DQL, several countries bucked this trend, including Greece, Azerbaijan, Russia and China. Poland is especially notable: Not only did it outperform countries like Germany and Singapore, but it also did so at a much lower cost.
The issue of cost raises another key question for home workers, because, on average, individuals must work three hours, 48 minutes a month to pay for even the cheapest broadband connection. However, this duration varies dramatically by location: In Nigeria, it is nine hours, 42 minutes; in America, 52 minutes; and in Canada, 7 minutes. As companies around the world save money on rent and other office overheads, will they ensure their staff are fully compensated for the expense of working from home?
Ben Schott is a Bloomberg Opinion visual columnist. He created the Schott's Original Miscellany and Schott's Almanac series, and writes for newspapers and magazines around the world.
Disclaimer: This opinion first appeared on Bloomberg, and is published by special syndication arrangement. Only the headline has been changed.
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