About This Statistic
This statistic gives information on the distribution of worldwide internet users as of May 2015, by global region. During that period of time, 43.8 percent of worldwide internet users were located in Asia Pacific, followed by 24.3 percent of users in Europe.
Internet users worldwide – additional information
Worldwide internet penetration refers to the share of users which have accessed the internet, from any location and via any device. In 2013, worldwide internet user penetration amounted to a 36.9 percent share of the global population. This share is expected to grow steadily in the future and is projected to reach 46.3 percent of the global population in 2018. In 2015, over 3.17 billion people accessed the internet.
The distribution of internet users is vast across the globe. As a result its users supply the internet with every kind of spoken and written language. The most common languages used on the internet as of December 2013 were measured by share of global internet users. It was discovered that English was the most popular language online, representing 28.6 percent of internet users. Chinese was the second most popular language with 23.2 percent of internet users and Spanish was ranked third, accounting for 7.9 percent of internet users. Arabic, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian and German were also included in the ranking.
Modern society’s growing dependence on the internet has affected attitudes towards access and availability. In a global survey of over 23,000 internet users which took place in October and November 2014, respondents were asked how much they agreed or disagreed with the statement; ‘Affordable access to the internet should be a basic human right.’ Overall, 83 percent of global internet users agreed with the statement. In the U.S., 77 percent of respondents agreed, whilst in Tunisia, Egypt, Indonesia and Nigeria, a dominant 92 percent agreed the affordable internet should be a basic human right.
