Half The World Remains Offline, ITU Study Found
About 3.9 billion people, or 53 percent of the world's population, will still be offline at the end of this year, the International Telecommunication Union estimates. The contrast between those people and the rest half the world chasing Pokemon is obvious. Even in Europe, the most connected region, 20.9 percent of all people aren’t online. In Africa, the least connected continent, 74.9 percent are offline.
The report also showed there’s still a huge divide between rich and poor countries, and a growing gap between men and women, when it comes to internet access. It shows that efforts by companies like Google and Facebook to get all people connected could take a long time.
While more than four out of five people in developed countries use the internet, just over 40 percent of those in developing countries have access. In places like Haiti, Yemen, Myanmar and Ethiopia just 15.2 percent of the people are online.
In addition, the worldwide difference between internet user penetration for males and females is 12.2 percent, up from 11.0 percent in 2013, the ITU says. It’s shrunk in developed countries, from 5.8 percent to just 2.8 percent, but grown in poorer places.
The ITU says entry-level internet access has become affordable in many developing countries since 2011 but remains unaffordable in most of the poorest countries. By the ITU’s definition, that means internet service costs more than 5 percent of average monthly income.
Mobile is the most common form of broadband access and is growing at double-digit rates in developing countries, hitting nearly 41 percent of the population this year while topping 90 percent in developed countries.