1 Billion Lives Challenge IMPACT REPORT

The 1 Billion Lives Challenge, launched in September 2021 by the EDISON Alliance, aims to improve 1 billion lives by 2025 through digital inclusion. As of January 2023, the Alliance reports having positively impacted 454 million people across 90 countries via more than 250 initiatives, reaching 45% of its target. The most significant impacts have been seen in South Asia and Africa, with digital financial services being the primary driver of improved lives. The report highlights structural barriers such as affordability and usability, noting that while many initiatives focus on digital literacy and education, these areas show lower conversion rates in terms of total lives impacted compared to finance and infrastructure.

• Between January 2021 and October 2022, EDISON Alliance partners positively impacted 454,440,483 people, which is 45% of the 1 billion target for 2025, through over 250 initiatives across 90 countries.
• Digital financial services have had the largest impact among the focus areas, providing 280 million unserved and underserved people with access to tools such as e-banking, mobile wallets, and e-payments.
• Digital healthcare and education have seen lower impact numbers, with 90 million people accessing digital healthcare services and 18 million people accessing online quality education and job skills training.
• South Asia and Africa are the primary regions where lives have been improved, with South Asia accounting for 79% of the total impact and Africa accounting for 10%.
• Despite a high volume of initiatives targeting digital literacy (40% of all initiatives), only 11% of the total lives impacted were through digital skills training, indicating that these services require more time and capital to scale.
• The Alliance identifies affordability as a critical and often underappreciated barrier to closing the digital divide, with 128 million people benefiting from initiatives that reduced the cost of connectivity and digital services.
• Progress toward 2025 targets varies significantly among partners; only 12% have reached at least half of their target, while 50% have reached less than 20%.

APA

World Economic Forum (2023). 1 Billion Lives Challenge IMPACT REPORT. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_EDISON_Alliance_1Billion_Lives_2023.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. 1 Billion Lives Challenge IMPACT REPORT. 2023. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_EDISON_Alliance_1Billion_Lives_2023.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=1 Billion Lives Challenge IMPACT REPORT |date=January 2023 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_EDISON_Alliance_1Billion_Lives_2023.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2023billion, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{1 Billion Lives Challenge IMPACT REPORT}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2023}, month = jan, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_EDISON_Alliance_1Billion_Lives_2023.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }