
<p>The Internet plays a critical role in society today and the COVID-19 pandemic further underlined the importance of reliable Internet connectivity for everyone. Unfortunately, not all countries have reliable Internet infrastructure. Low-income countries often have under-provisioned networks and lack robust cable infrastructure and redundant interconnection systems. In these countries or regions, the likelihood of Internet outages occurring is much higher than elsewhere.</p>



<p>A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2020/07/a-partnership-to-improve-africas-internet-infrastructure-resilience-and-reliability/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">resilient Internet connection</a>&nbsp;is one that maintains an acceptable level of service in the face of faults and challenges to normal operation. In this Pulse focus area we track resiliency metrics using the Internet Resilience Index to help support the development of policies and infrastructure to improve Internet resilience at the local, regional, and global level.</p>


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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">About the Internet Resilience Index</h2>



<p>Measuring Internet resilience is not an easy task as there are several building blocks that underpin the Internet’s complex ecosystem. Additionally, the Internet landscape varies considerably around the world. To objectively compare countries there needs to be a balanced set of metrics that track and record the different components that contribute to the overall resiliency of the Internet.</p>



<p>To achieve this, the Internet Society has developed the Internet Resilience Index (IRI). This document outlines the approach used to build the Index, the selection of indicators and the underlying data sources, the weighting scheme, and the aggregation method used.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://pulse.internetsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Internet-Society-Pulse-IRI-Methodology-Apr-2025-v1.0-Final-EN.pdf"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="207" height="291" src="https://pulse.internetsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screenshot-2021-11-09-at-14.32.35.png" alt="" class="wp-image-7064"></a></figure>



<p>The Internet Resilience Index was initially developed as part of the <a href="https://pulse.internetsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Measuring-Internet-Resilience-in-Africa-EN-May2021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Measuring Internet Resilience in Africa</a> (MIRA) project. It uses best practices according to the EU-JRC and the&nbsp;<a href="https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/publication/handbook-constructing-composite-indicators-methodology-user-guide-0_en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">OECD Handbook on Constructing Composite Indicators</a>&nbsp;and the same methodology as currently existing indices such as the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://theinclusiveinternet.eiu.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Facebook/EIU Inclusive Internet Index</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="https://thewebindex.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Web Foundation Web Index</a>.</p>



<p>You can find out more about the IRI in the <a href="https://pulse.internetsociety.org/faq#global-iri-mira-iri" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FAQs</a>.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">API Access</h3>



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<p>You can access the data underpinning the Internet Resilience Index via our <a href="https://pulse.internetsociety.org/en/api/" data-type="link" data-id="https://pulse.internetsociety.org/en/api/">API</a>.&nbsp;</p>
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Internet Resilience

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<p class="tx-description">The existence and availability of physical infrastructure that provides Internet connectivity.</p>
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Infrastructure

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<p class="tx-description">The ability of the network to provide end-users with seamless and reliable access to Internet services.</p>
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Performance

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<p class="tx-description">The ability of the network to resist intentional or unintentional disruptions through the adoption of security technologies and best practices.</p>
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Security

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<p class="tx-description">The ability of the market to self-regulate and provide affordable prices to end-users by maintaining a diverse and competitive market.                         </p>
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