This Province Had the Best National Digital Literacy in 2021

By early 2022, there were approximately 204.7 million internet users in Indonesia. However, the level of digital literacy in the country is estimated to be uneven.

This is reflected in the report *Status Literasi Digital di Indonesia 2021* (Status of Digital Literacy in Indonesia 2021) released by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics together with the Katadata Insight Center (KIC).

According to the report, the national digital literacy index in 2021 was 3.49 on a scale of 1-5. This means that, in general, the level of digital literacy of the Indonesian population is "moderate".

When broken down by province, Yogyakarta Special Region had the highest digital literacy index with a score of 3.71. The higher the score, the better the assumed digital literacy in that province.

Meanwhile, 14 other provinces had digital literacy indices below the national average. North Maluku had the lowest score at 3.18.

According to UNESCO (2018), digital literacy is the ability to define, access, manage, integrate, communicate, evaluate, and create safe and accurate information through digital technology to participate in the economy and social life.

In the *Status Literasi Digital di Indonesia 2021* report, the digital literacy index was measured through four main indicator pillars:

1. *Digital Skills*: an individual's ability to know, understand, and use information and communication technology (ICT) hardware and software, as well as digital operating systems in daily life.

2. *Digital Ethics*: an individual's ability to be aware of, exemplify, adapt to, rationalize, consider, and develop digital ethics (netiquette) in daily life.

3. *Digital Safety*: an individual's ability to recognize, pattern, apply, analyze, weigh, and increase awareness of personal data protection and digital security in daily life.

4. *Digital Culture*: an individual's ability to read, interpret, habituate, examine, and build insights into national values, Pancasila, and Bhinneka Tunggal Ika in daily life and the digitalization of culture through the use of ICT.

These four pillars were then developed into 30 derivative indicators and processed into interview questionnaires for the respondent survey.

The survey involved 10,000 respondents spread across Indonesia's 34 provinces. The respondents were household members aged 13-70 years who had accessed the internet in the past 3 months.

(See Also: Digital Literacy Index by Region in Indonesia)