About 30 percent of New Zealanders with levels of income or education and 42 percent of people with disabilities lack essential digital skills, the report found. BNZ's latest Digital Skills Report estimated 700,000 adults - or 20 percent - do not have the digital skills deemed essential for modern life. "For example, around 30 percent of people with low levels of education or low incomes are found to lack essential digital skills. "By not urgently addressing this digital divide, we face the threat of entrenched inequity as these people become less able to engage with society and the economy. "Our intention is to rerun this work every year so as we work to improve New Zealanders' digital capability, we'll be able to track how we are going through future versions of this digital skills survey."

Source: Otago Daily Times April 17, 2021 23:26 UTC