The INSURTECH Book

The New World of the Connected Customer – The Future of Microinsurance?

By Pauline Davies

Partner, Fee Langstone and CEO, InsuredHQ

The world's population is connected today in more ways than it has ever been, thanks to the Internet and the rapid rise over the last thirty years of web-based methods of communication – except in areas where it is barely connected at all. Internet usage estimates current as at March 2017¹ indicate that Europe contributes 10.9% of the world's population, of which 77.4% has Internet access. In North America, which holds 4.8% of the total population of the world, the number rises to 88.1%. It is probably fair to assume that on both of those continents, the Internet is available (on some basis) to virtually anyone who wants it. The same, though, cannot be said of other regions of the world, with Africa being the most extreme example. Africa holds 16.6% of the global population at almost 1.25 billion people, and only 27.7% of that number are Internet users, i.e. just over one in four.² If those numbers are broken down a little further, the discrepancies between Africa and Europe/North America become even more pronounced. While Kenya is the leading light, at 77.8% population penetration, only one other country (Mauritius) exceeds 60% and 19 countries are below 10%. Those at the bottom of the list are Eritrea at 1.3% and Niger at 2%. Interestingly, the availability of the Internet in African countries appears to be only loosely reflective of the financial ...