---
title: "Worldwide Internet Penetration is just 15%"
date: 2006-05-29
author: "Richard MacManus"
categories:
  - name: "ReadWriteWeb"
    url: "/category/readwriteweb.md"
tags:
  - name: "2006"
    url: "/tag/2006.md"
---

# Worldwide Internet Penetration is just 15%

According to the Miniwatts Marketing Group’s [Internet Usage and World Population Statistics](https://web.archive.org/web/20110829220118/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm) (last updated March 31, 2006), worldwide Internet penetration is only 15.7%! So much for the *World Wide* Web… this is indeed sobering stuff for those of us obsessed with ‘web 2.0’ technology. Here’s the main table of stats:

**WORLD INTERNET USAGE AND POPULATION STATISTICS**

**World Regions**

**Population % of World**

**% Population (Penetra-tion)**

**Usage % of World**

**Usage Growth 2000-2005**

[**Africa**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110829220118/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm)

14.1 %

2.6 %

2.3 %

423.9 %

[**Asia**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110829220118/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm)

56.4 %

9.9 %

35.6 %

218.7 %

[**Europe**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110829220118/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats4.htm)

12.4 %

36.1 %

28.5 %

177.5 %

[**Middle East**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110829220118/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats5.htm)

2.9 %

9.6 %

1.8 %

454.2 %

[**North America**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110829220118/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats2.htm)

5.1 %

68.6 %

22.2 %

110.3 %

[**Latin America / Caribbean**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110829220118/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats2.htm)

8.5 %

14.4 %

7.8 %

342.5 %

[**Oceania / Australia**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110829220118/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats6.htm)

0.5 %

52.6 %

1.7 %

134.6 %

**WORLD TOTAL**

100.0 %

15.7 %

100.0 %

183.4 %

Source: [World Internet Usage Statistics and Population Stats](https://web.archive.org/web/20110829220118/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm) (nb: removed two columns to make it fit)

 In North America, where most Web innovations still come from, the penetration figure is 68.6%. However in Africa it’s just 2.6%, Asia 9.9% and the Middle East 9.6%. Together Africa, Asia and Middle East make up 73.4% of the world’s population. So that basically means **3/4 of the world has extremely low Internet penetration**. The one positive note is that usage growth rates are encouraging (see column on the right).

 Interesting to note that China, seen by most analysts as a big growth market for Web technologies, has an Internet penetration of only 8.5%. Considering that great parts of China are rural, this isn’t overly surprising. Also mobile technologies have a much [bigger impact](https://web.archive.org/web/20110829220118/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/portable_intern.php) in China, than the PC.

 Still, these figures put things into perspective. I feel very lucky to live in a country (New Zealand) that has 76.3% penetration – even if the broadband is slow and expensive!

![text](https://web.archive.org/web/20110829220118im_/http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/5billion_feedburnercount.PNG)p.s. amazing how in these circumstances [Pete Cashmore](https://web.archive.org/web/20110829220118/http://www.mashable.com/) has managed to get 5 billion RSS subscribers 😉

*Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/worldwide_inter.php))*