The World Online

A map from Oxford Internet Institute shows the total number of Internet users in a country as well as the percentage of the population that has Internet access. The distortions in the map paint a revealing picture about human activity on the Internet. Looking at the largest Internet countries and regions, one can identify a few key findings:

First, the continued rise of Asia as major home region to the world’s Internet population. At 1.24 billion users, 46 percent of the world’s Internet users live in Asia. That is roughly equal to the number of Internet users in Europe, Latin America & Caribbean, Middle East & North Africa, and North America combined.

Second, few of the world’s largest Internet countries fall into the top category (above 80 percent) of Internet penetration.

Third, in terms of total Internet users, Latin America & Caribbean is almost on par with the United States (287 versus 297 million people). This is with an Internet penetration of 47 percent compared to the 84 percent Internet penetration in the United States.

Fourth, some African countries have seen staggering growth since OII last mapped Internet use globally (using 2011 data), e.g. South Africa where Internet penetration rose by 14.9 percentage points, Kenya at +11 percentage points, Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria with each roughly +10 percentage points, and Botswana at +7 percentage points. Other countries have seen virtually no change, e.g. Somalia, Eritrea, and Burundi. It remains that 29 out of 47 Sub-Saharan African countries have an Internet penetration rate of less than 10 percent, and have seen very little growth since 2011.

With these findings in mind, it is important to realise and remember that despite the massive impacts that the Internet has on everyday life for many people, most people on our planet remain entirely disconnected. Even today, only a bit more than a third of humanity has access to the Internet.