The percentage of individuals using the Internet continues to grow worldwide and as at the end of 2011, 2.3 billion people were online, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has said.
According to the ITU’s latest data, World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, as at June 2012, the number of Internet users in developing countries, doubled between 2007 and 2011, but said only a quarter of inhabitants in the developing world was online at the end of last year.
“The percentage of individuals using the Internet in the developed world reached the 70% landmark by end 2011,” the ITU said, indicating that more than 90% of the population in Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden are online.
The data adds that by the end of 2011, 70% of the total households in developed countries had Internet, whereas only 20% of households in developing countries had Internet access.
Total international Internet bandwidth increased seven‐fold over the last five years reaching 76’000 Gigabit per second by end 2011, the report stated. “This equates to 34’000 bit/s per internet user worldwide,” it said.
The UN agency observed that there are major differences in internet bandwidth per Internet user persisting between regions.
On average, a user in Europe enjoys 25 times as much international Internet capacity as a user in Africa, the Union indicated.
By Ekow Quandzie