How many people use the internet in 2024?

How many people use the internet?

• As of 2024, there are 5.52 billion internet users worldwide

• The number of people using the internet worldwide jumped from 1.02 billion in 2005 to 5.4 billion in 2023. That's an increase of 4.38 billion users over 18 years

• The biggest jump in internet users happened in 2007, with a 19.18% growth rate, adding about 220 million new users that year

• Over the past five years (2018 to 2023), the growth of internet users has slowed down a bit, with growth rates dropping from 8.28% in 2018 to just 1.89% in 2023

• In 2020, there was a noticeable jump in internet use, with 11.31% growth, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the total number of users to 4.59 billion

• From 2012 to 2021, the number of internet users went up by 2.51 billion, almost doubling from 2.39 billion to 4.9 billion

• The most new users in a single year were added between 2021 and 2022, with 400 million people joining, even though the percentage increase was 8.14%

• Even though the growth rate is slowing down, by 2023, the internet reached more than two-thirds of the global population

Internet usage by region

• Europe leads the way with internet use, with 91% of people online

• The CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) is right behind Europe, with 89% of people connected

• The Americas have an internet usage rate of 87%. It's a bit less than Europe and the CIS, but still shows strong internet access across both North and South America

• In the Arab States, 69% of people use the internet. This is just above the global average of 67%, but quite a bit lower than in Europe and the Americas

• Asia-Pacific has an internet usage rate of 66%, which is a little below the global average

• Africa has the lowest internet usage rate, with only 37% of people online. This points to big gaps in internet access across the continent

• The global average for internet use is 67%

Internet usage by country income level

• In high-income countries, about 93% of people are online

• Upper-middle-income countries have 81% of their population using the internet. That's pretty high, but still 12 percentage points behind the high-income countries

• In lower-middle-income countries, the internet usage rate is 55%

• Low-income countries have the lowest internet usage, with just 27% of people online. This highlights a big digital divide that's tied to how much money a country has

• There's a 66 percentage point gap between high-income and low-income countries (93% vs. 27%), showing just how different internet access can be depending on a country's wealth