Digital preparedness

Access to education, skills development and learning throughout life

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Metric

Aggregate score of digital inclusion based on access, affordability and digital ability

Why this matters

An important factor in determining whether we succeed in improving the productivity, competitiveness and resilience of our economy is how well we manage the digital transformation. Digital technology is critical for online learning and developing skills for the future of work.

One measure of digital preparedness is digital inclusion.

Progress

The Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII) is a score from 0 to 100 measuring the level of digital inclusion (100 being the highest), calculated using equally weighted 0 to 100 sub-indices of access, affordability, and digital ability.

In 2022, the digital inclusion index was 73.2, an increase from 71.1 in 2021, and 67.5 in 2020.

All three sub-indices (access, affordability, and digital ability) rose from 2021.

  1. Individual Index dimensions are equally weighted in the construction of the total Index to derive an overall score from 0-100. When disaggregated, a dimension score can be higher or lower than the total Index score.

Note: Total figures may not sum due to rounding.

Data Source
Australian Digital Inclusion Index

Differences across groups

According to the Australian Digital Inclusion Index dashboard, in 2022:

  • people aged 18-34 years had the highest ADII score of any age group (82.6), while those aged 75 years and over had the lowest score (48.5)
  • people with a Bachelor degree or higher had an ADII score of 79.9, compared with a score of 56.3 for those who did not complete secondary school
  • employed people had an ADII score of 79.5, compared with 63.3 for those not in the labour force
  • people in the highest income quintile had an ADII score of 83.5, compared with 54.7 for those in the lowest quintile.

Disaggregation

Further information on how digital inclusion differs between groups is available from Australian Digital Inclusion Index dashboard.

Disaggregation available includes:

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Labour force status
  • Occupation
  • Income
  • Educational attainment
  • Cultural and Language Diversity: Languages other than English (LOTE)
  • Disability status
  • Socioeconomic status: Whether receives income support
  • Housing tenure
  • Household type
  • Geography: Metro, regional; Remoteness
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status.