We think we live in a digital-first world — but there's no "digital" at all for 37% of the global population.

That's a big problem in today's economy, where you'll miss out on many opportunities for advancement if you're not connected. The digital divide is thus widening the equality gap.

Being offline "places an automatic limit on your ability to be productive and has major ramifications for our society," says Vickie Robinson, head of Microsoft's Airband Initiative to expand broadband access throughout the developing world.

Robinson believes major progress on connectivity is crucial in order to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals by the 2030 deadline because getting people online can be a catalyst to achieve all the other SDGs.

"If we really want to tackle some of these big problems and meet these SDGs in a fundamental way ... getting our arms around digital access for all is a way that we can do it."

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