--- title: "World Internet Penetration Now 16% – Asia Growing Fast!" date: 2006-09-10 author: "Richard MacManus" categories: - name: "ReadWriteWeb" url: "/category/readwriteweb.md" tags: - name: "2006" url: "/tag/2006.md" --- # World Internet Penetration Now 16% – Asia Growing Fast! The latest [internetworldstats.com statistics](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/) show that worldwide Internet penetration has increased to 16.0%, largely thanks to Asia. About 3 months ago [when I last posted on this](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/worldwide_inter.php), the worldwide penetration was 15.7%. Since then Asia has increased from 9.9 % population penetration to 10.4%. As a % of world Internet penetration, Asia increased from 35.6% to 36.5%. China, as always, is at the heart of this change – they [increased](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm) from 8.5% penetration to 9.4% (making up 32.3% of Asia’s total). Japan is second in Asia, with 22.7% share – but their country penetration is much higher at 67.2%. Europe has also had a slight increase, from 36.1 % population penetration to 36.4 % – but their global % has dropped from 28.5% to 28.2%. North America’s population penetration has stayed steady, at 68.6%. However, mainly because of Asia’s increase, North America’s global % has dropped from 22.2% to 21.8 %. These might seem like minor changes, but bear in mind it’s only over 3 months – imagine what Asia’s Internet penetration will look like in 2 years time, or 5 years! Especially given they currently have 56.4% of the world’s population of 6.5 Billion. WORLD INTERNET USAGE AND POPULATION STATISTICS World Regions Population % of World % Population ( Penetration ) Usage % of World Usage Growth 2000-2005 [**Africa**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm) 14.1 % 2.6 % 2.3 % 423.9 % [**Asia**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm) 56.4 % 10.4 % 36.5 % 232.8 % [**Europe**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats4.htm) 12.4 % 36.4 % 28.2 % 179.8 % [**Middle East**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats5.htm) 2.9 % 9.6 % 1.7 % 454.2 % [**North America**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats2.htm) 5.1 % 68.6 % 21.8 % 110.4 % [**Latin America/Caribbean**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats2.htm) 8.5 % 14.7 % 7.8 % 350.5 % [**Oceania / Australia**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats6.htm) 0.5 % 52.6 % 1.7 % 134.6 % WORLD TOTAL 100.0 % 16.0 % 100.0 % 189.0 % Source: [World Internet Usage Statistics and Population Stats](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm) ## Biggest Countries More fascinating data in the following table, which shows the US still well ahead of China and Japan in Internet users. Similar to the [broadband penetration](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/dsl.htm) table (except India, the world’s second biggest country, doesn’t even make the top 20 there). TOP 20 COUNTRIES WITH HIGHEST NUMBER OF INTERNET USERS \# Country or Region **Internet Users,Latest Data** Internet Penetration % Users of World 1 [**United States**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/america.htm#us) 205,493,713 68.7 % 19.7 % 2 [**China**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#cn) 123,000,000 9.4 % 11.8 % 3 [**Japan**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#jp) 86,300,000 67.2 % 8.3 % 4 [**India**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#in) 50,600,000 4.5 % 4.9 % 5 [**Germany**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa.htm#de) 49,976,303 60.6 % 4.8 % 6 [**United Kingdom**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa.htm#uk) 37,800,000 62.9 % 3.6 % 7 [**Korea (South)**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#kr) 33,900,000 67.0 % 3.2 % 8 [**Italy**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa.htm#it) 28,870,000 48.8 % 2.8 % 9 [**France**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa.htm#fr) 26,871,652 44.0 % 2.6 % 10 [**Brazil**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/south.htm#br) 25,900,000 14.1 % 2.5 % 11 [**Russia**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa2.htm#ru) 23,700,000 16.5 % 2.3 % 12 [**Canada**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/america.htm#ca) 21,900,000 67.9 % 2.1 % 13 [**Indonesia**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#id) 18,000,000 8.1 % 1.7 % 14 [**Spain**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa.htm#es) 17,577,975 39.6 % 1.7 % 15 [**Mexico**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/carib.htm#mx) 17,100,000 16.3 % 1.6 % 16 [**Australia**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/pacific.htm#au) 14,189,557 68.4 % 1.4 % 17 [**Taiwan**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#tw) 13,800,000 60.3 % 1.3 % 18 [**Netherlands**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa.htm#nl) 10,806,328 65.9 % 1.0 % 19 [**Poland**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa.htm#po) 10,600,000 27.8 % 1.0 % 20 [**Turkey**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa1.htm#tr) 10,220,000 13.7 % 1.0 % TOP 20 Countries 826,605,528 20.3 % 79.2 % Rest of the World 216,499,358 8.9 % 20.8 % Total World – Users 1,043,104,886 16.0 % 100.0 % Source: [Internet Users – Top 20 Countries – Internet Usage](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/top20.htm) A sidenote: my own little country, New Zealand, is now the [number 1 ranked country](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/top25.htm) in the world in terms of Internet Penetration. NZ has 76.3%! USA, the top ranked ‘big country’ is 7th with 68.6%. ## Top 10 Languages English still dominates on the Web, at 30%. But note that Chinese is actually more widely used in real life, so one would think over time Chinese will become much more prominent on the Web. **Top Ten Languages Used in the Web** ( Number of Internet Users by Language ) TOP TEN LANGUAGES IN THE INTERNET % of all Internet Users Internet Users by Language Internet Penetration by Language Internet Growth for Language ( 2000 – 2005 ) World Population 2006 Estimate for the Language [**English**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/reports.htm) 30.0 % 312,924,679 27.8 % 128.1 % 1,125,664,397 [**Chinese**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/reports.htm) 13.8 % 144,301,513 10,8 % 346.7 % 1,340,767,863 [**Japanese**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/reports.htm) 8.3 % 86,300,000 67.2 % 83.3 % 128,389,000 [**Spanish**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/reports.htm) 7.5 % 78,166,075 17.9 % 216.7 % 429,293,261 [**German**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/reports.htm) 5.6 % 58,214,778 60.7 % 110.9 % 95,982,043 [**French**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/reports.htm) 4.4 % 45,807,499 12.0 % 275.5 % 381,193,149 [**Korean**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/reports.htm) 3.2 % 33,900,000 45.8 % 78.0 % 73,945,860 [**Portuguese**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/reports.htm) 3.1 % 32,372,000 14.0 % 327.3 % 230,846,275 [**Italian**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/reports.htm) 2.8 % 28,870,000 48.8 % 118.7 % 59,115,261 [**Russian**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/reports.htm) 2.3 % 23,700,000 16.5 % 664.5 % 143,682,757 TOP TEN LANGUAGES 81.0 % 844,556,544 21.0 % 160.7 % 4,008,879,867 Rest of World Languages 19.0 % 198,548,342 8.0 % 436.0 % 2,490,817,193 [**WORLD TOTAL**](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm) 100.0 % 1,043,104,886 16.0 % 189.0 % 6,499,697,060 Source: [World Internet Usage Statistics Top Languages](https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213320/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm) *Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/world_internet_penetration_sept06.php))*