Inequality of digital access between Russian regions

Abstract

With the development of digital technologies, an increasing number of economic relations are carried out via the Internet. The absence of Internet access may increase inequality within the regions and between them. This study aimed to measure the divide in the use of Internet technologies by organizations and households. This divide is the basis of digital inequality in the regions of the Russian Federation. As a method to achieve this goal, the authors propose using the index of rating assessment of digital access. This index was calculated for the private sector and households only to illustrate the arrearage of households in access to the Internet. During the analysis, the authors identified regions with high potential for the development of digitalization, as well as lagging regions, and analyzed sources of this lagging for the regions with low access to the Internet. The results of this study can be used as a method for the express analysis of the Internet development in the regions, determining the degree of interregional inequality in accessing digital services and improving the National Program of Digital Economy for Russia.