Every second, internet users around the planet send more than 25 lakh emails, perform 50,000 searches on Google, send more than 10,000 tweets, upload 2,562 pictures on Instagram and transformer over 29,500 Gigabytes of data. And though in its early years, access to this resource was limited to developed countries, the world-wide web is soon going to be global in the literal sense of the word. This is evident from the fact that India now has more internet users than the total population of United States.
Nearly half of the world’s internet users live in just one continent ‒ Asia. This is because China, apart from being the most populous country in the world, also has the largest world's internet population. To put this in perspective, with 600 million internet users, China has more people online than the combined number of users in India, Japan and the US.
Researchers at the University of Oxford decided to visualise this divide in the haves and have-nots of the internet by sizing each country on the world map in proportion to the number of internet users that lives in it. It's a reminder that many more people are yet to be brought online.
Dr Mark Graham, a researcher behind the creation of the map, reiterated the enormous potential for growth. “It is important to realise and remember that despite the massive impacts that the internet has on everyday life for many people, most people on our planet remain entirely disconnected,” he said. “Even today, only a bit more than a third of humanity has access to the internet.”
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Nearly half of the world’s internet users live in just one continent ‒ Asia. This is because China, apart from being the most populous country in the world, also has the largest world's internet population. To put this in perspective, with 600 million internet users, China has more people online than the combined number of users in India, Japan and the US.
Researchers at the University of Oxford decided to visualise this divide in the haves and have-nots of the internet by sizing each country on the world map in proportion to the number of internet users that lives in it. It's a reminder that many more people are yet to be brought online.
Dr Mark Graham, a researcher behind the creation of the map, reiterated the enormous potential for growth. “It is important to realise and remember that despite the massive impacts that the internet has on everyday life for many people, most people on our planet remain entirely disconnected,” he said. “Even today, only a bit more than a third of humanity has access to the internet.”