Non-journalists can purchase copies of WRI reports through our online bookstore . Daily phone briefings are available through a conference webcast. Some 300 leaders of the digital industry, the government and potential customers will convene in Seattle for the Creating Digital Dividends Conference, Oct. 16-18, 2000. Market drivers will be required to quickly and effectively bring the benefits of connectivity and participation in the e-economy to all of the world's people.
Researchers estimate that there are more telephones in New York City than in all of rural Asia.
There are more Internet accounts in London than in all of Africa. As much as 80 percent of the world's population has never made a phone call. While the Internet already connects 100 million computers, that represents less than 2 percent of the world's population. This global digital divide can be transformed into dividends. It could include providing billions of people with access to educational and health services, boosting incomes and stimulating economic opportunities, and creating the tools to manage natural resources more sustainably.