Posted on 12/01/21
| News Source: The Hill
It is estimated that 37 percent of the global population, around 2.9 billion people, has never used the internet, according to data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an agency within the United Nations.
Despite this figure, the ITU has seen a strong growth in internet use across the world. The predicted number of those who have been online has risen to 4.9 billion in 2021, up from 4.1 billion in 2019.
The atypical uptick in internet users is likely attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic and campaigns throughout the pandemic during lockdowns to engage with people by getting them online.
That brought an estimated 782 million more internet users, increasing connectivity by 17 percent from 2019, stated the ITU.
Of the people who remain disconnected from the Internet, 96 percent live in developing nations. And even though 4.9 billion people are internet users, the ITU stated that millions of them likely use the internet less frequently than those in developed countries and may use the internet at a disadvantageous speed compared with those in wealthier nations.