Internet Access

The State of the Internet Around the World

Thirty years ago, Tim Berners-Lee published his landmark scientific proposal, “Information Management: A Proposal” that laid out the foundation for developing the fundamentals of the internet. Berners-Lee was a computer scientist working at CERN when he birthed the concept and proposal.

After the advent of the internet thirty years ago, access has expanded rapidly. In Europe internet access stood at around 63 percent in 2009, within a decade that expanded to almost 80 percent. Less than 5 percent of the people living across Africa had access to the internet in 2009, while now almost a quarter of people across the continent have access to the internet.

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This chart shows the global penetration rate from 209 to 2018, by region.

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Global internet penetration rate from 2009 to 2025, by region
Internet penetration rate worldwide as of April 2026, by region
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Share of population using the internet worldwide as of April 2026, by selected territory
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Percentage of global population accessing the internet from 2005 to 2025, by market maturity
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Percentage of individuals using the internet worldwide as of 2025, by region
Share of internet users in the total population worldwide from April 2016 to April 2026

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