We frequently end up talking about the internet because it has such a significant influence on our daily lives. While some people concentrate on the many ways people use the internet, others are curious about the precise number of internet users worldwide. If you belong to the latter group, you have come to the right spot! In this article, we will determine how many people use the internet globally, how that figure is calculated, and how it has changed over time.
The Quantity
According to Internet World Stats, there are presently 5.1 billion internet users worldwide. To put things in perspective, it is around two-thirds of everyone who now calls our planet home!
Researchers calculate this statistic by counting the number of respondents who said “yes” to questions along the following lines:
1) Do you occasionally use the internet?
2) Do you send and/or receive emails from time to time?
The Pew Research Foundation and other well-known research institutions have produced statistics on the number of internet users.
Challenges
People encounter a variety of difficulties when using the internet. The majority of these issues are seen in underdeveloped nations. It is challenging to determine the precise number of internet users in a home when numerous people use the same gadget to access the internet.
This can lead to a possible underestimating of the global internet user population.
The fact that many individuals do not understand what the internet is and what it is not presents another difficulty. For instance, many people in underdeveloped nations like Pakistan use the mobile messaging software WhatsApp, although they frequently deny using the internet. This is because they do not even classify Whatsapp as an internet-based software; instead, they view the internet as something you use on a personal computer.
Governments occasionally outlaw internet access in certain nations. Now, even if a person is able to use the internet in such nations, they will not be included in the total number of internet users. This is due to the fact that researchers will presume that no one utilizes the internet in those nations.
Terrorism is another issue that the internet must face. Researchers who calculate the number of internet users in a region are frequently threatened by terrorists in that region since many internet research foundations are Western-based and anyone who works for them is regarded as “westernized.”
Even if many of the aforementioned issues only exist in underdeveloped nations, counting internet users in rich nations is similarly difficult. In order to avoid being counted when estimating the number of internet users, illegal immigrants frequently keep themselves under the radar.
Growth
One of the most significant changes of the recent decades is the expansion of the internet. 16 million people used the internet in 1995. By the turn of the century, that number had more than tenfolded in only five years to reach 300 million, which is about the same as the whole population of the United States of America! Internet users increased to 1 billion users five years later, in 2005. After almost 15 years, that number is at over 5.1 billion. All of this information was gathered from the Internet World Stats website.
Geographical Distribution
We begin with North America, which has the highest per-person internet usage of any continent. North America is home to 6.7% of the world’s internet users while making up only 5% of the world’s population. 14.3% of the world’s internet users are located in Europe, which is home to 12% of the world’s population. However, nations in Asia and Africa have substantially lower internet usage rates per capita. Despite having 61% of the world’s population, Asia only has 53.4% of internet users. Similar to this, just 11.5% of the world’s internet users are found in Africa, despite the continent contributing 13% of the world’s population. This discrepancy may exist because North America has more internet service providers than Asia or Africa. More information on ISPs can be taken from their customer service departments such as Xfinity customer service.
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Conclusion
We hoped this post helped you gain a better understanding of internet users. I wish you luck!
