Data: Global Internet access grows 3% in 2023
November 30, 2023
By Chris Forrester
At the end of last year 64 per cent of the world’s population, 5.4 billion people, had access to the Internet according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). That number has grown to 67 per cent this in 2023. But the ITU also says there are huge regional disparities in addition to the obvious differences between urban and rural areas.
In Africa, for example, 67 per cent of the population remains unconnected.
The 2023 growth represents an increase of 45 per cent since 2018, with 1.7 billion people estimated to have come online during that period. However, this leaves 2.6 billion people still offline.
The ITU data shows the following (percentage of individuals using the Internet):
World: 67.4 per cent
Africa: 37.1 per cent
Americas: 86.9 per cent
Arab States: 68.9 per cent
APAC: 65.9 per cent
CIS: 89.1 per cent
Europe: 90.5 per cent