How Widespread is Internet Use Around the World?

If you think about it, most of us can barely imagine a world without internet anymore. We are just far too used to the way things work now. The internet has become an essential aspect of everyday life for the vast majority of people around the world. It is how a lot of people earn their money, how most people stay in touch with their loved ones, and how plenty of individuals manage to learn enough to get themselves a decent kind of education at the end of the day.

However, if you think about it the internet is a very young technology. It has only been in its present form for a very short period of time, and even if you look at its history from the very moment it was conceived you would see that it is still only thirty years old which really isn’t that old at all. Still, in the past thirty years the internet has expanded its influence and become what is arguably the single most important piece of technology that the world has to offer. The influence of the internet can be seen by analyzing just how many people have access to it in various parts of the world.

Africa is a good example to check out here. A decade ago, only about five percent of people in Africa had access to the internet. The vast majority of the continent was cut off from this technological innovation. The number of people that have access to the internet is now five times higher, with a quarter of the population now having access to this technology. This upward movement is definitely a good sign for generations to come.

The infographic below, based on International Telecommunication Union data, visualizes the global penetration rate from 2009 to 2018, by region.

The State of the Internet Around the World
Chart source: Statista.

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