Chapter 9 Impact of Information and Communication Technology on Human Development: A Cross-Country Analysis

In the postglobalized world, information and communication technology (ICT) has been considered a key driver of human development. The world is reshaping from resource-based economy to knowledge-based economy after rapid growth of ICT. ICT can be considered as an umbrella that incorporates any communication device such as radio, television, cell phones, computer and network hardware, satellite systems etc., and also various services and appliance with them such as video conferencing and distance learning ( Akarowhe, 2017 ). ICT is a technological system that is able to meet the gap of formal communication system and ultimately affects the level of standard of living. Human development can be defined as a process of enlarging people's freedoms and opportunities and improving their well-being. Whereas, human development index (HDI) is a statistical tool used to measure a country's human development based on the health of people, their level of education attainment, and level of income. The present chapter tries to find out the impact of ICT on human development for selected high HDI and medium HDI countries during the period 2001–2018. Applying panel data technique result shows that ICT has a positive and significant impact on human development.