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1. INTERNET USAGE AND WORLD POPULATION STATISTICS
The World Population and Internet User information is the main demographic content for this web site. It has been collected by our webmaster since 2000 and is displayed in the statistics pages. There are seven individual statistical tables for each of the six main geographical regions of the world (Africa, America, Asia, Europe, Middle East, and Oceania), and a general world summary page called the big picture.
Additionally, a top Internet usage countries table, a most penetrated countries table, a most populated countries table and a unique table containing Internet usage by languages are included. Other analysis are being added periodically, for example: G8 country usage, Spanish speakers, etc. For information on the sources, definitions, the methodology and details about the data displayed please read the following notes.
1.1 INTERNET USAGE
Before we can measure or forecast Internet Usage, we must first answer a basic question: What is an Internet user? Research firms, analysts, consultancies and other sources all disagree on how to answer this seemingly simple question.
The ITU subscribes to the definition of an Internet user as someone aged 2 years old and above, who went online in the past 30 days. The US Department of Commerce, in contrast, defines Internet users as those 3 years or older who 'currently use' the Internet. The CNNIC defines the Internet user as a Chinese citizen, aged 6 or above, who uses the Internet at least one hour per week.
Other market researchers and market research organizations have their own definitions. For example, Nielsen Online in its reports presents two figures for the Internet users: the first is "Active Internet User", which is defined as the number of users that viewed the Internet at least once during the last month, and the other figure is, of course, the total universe estimate of Internet users in a country, region, or city.
We believe that a definition must be as general and as simple as possible. For analyzing and comparing Internet users on a global scale, IWS adopts as its benchmark a broad definition and defines an Internet User as anyone currently in capacity to use the Internet. In our opinion, there are only two requirements for a person to be considered an Internet User:
(1) The person must have available access to an Internet connection point, and
(2) The person must have the basic knowledge required to use web technology.
That's it. No need to make complex something that is really quite simple. In many Third World countries one same Internet connection may be shared by many individual users. Due to this reason, Internet users generally outnumber the amount of Internet access subscribers and also outnumber the telephone lines available in each country.
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1.2 INTERNET GROWTH
In order to establish the relative growth rate of the Internet on a global basis, we compare the current (latest) Internet usage figures for each country or region with the year 2000, our baseline year for Internet usage figures, and express this ratio as a percentage. For information on the Historic Internet Growth data please click here, a new page will open. For the Current Internet World Usage Statistics, visit this page.
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1.3 INTERNET PENETRATION RATE
The Internet Penetration Rate corresponds to the percentage of the total population of a given country or region that uses the Internet. Internet users are defined in 1.1. No adjustments have been made for infants or illiteracy in the Internet penetration rate calculations. Indeed very few countries have 100% literacy, Norway is one of them. Regarding the children, they are early adopters, when given the chance to surf the Internet.
For countries with penetration rates above 50%, the data will be marked in bold letters in the corresponding pages. The list of the countries with Internet Penetration Rates over 50% may be found here. At Internet World Stats we support the 50x15 Initiative and invite you to do so also. Read about this important project for the future growth of the Internet at the Digital Divide page.
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1.4 WORLD POPULATION
It is important to point out that Internet usage and population data go hand in hand. In order to determine the Internet Penetration Rate (IPR) for each country and region of the world we require accurate and up-to-date demographic data. Therefore the great majority of population figures we use are based on data published by the U.S. Census Bureau, and contained in their excellent website at: US Census Bureau, where you can also find detailed demographic information for many towns and cities for all the countries of the world.
Special note on China: Hong Kong (Xianggang) and Macao (Aomen) are both part of China, but these territories as well as Taiwan are reported separately for Internet Usage Statistical purposes. Therefore the total estimated population for China mainland has been adjusted accordingly in our statistical tables and charts.
Special note on Mexico: For statistical reasons, and following the United Nations Statistical Department, Mexico has been included together with the seven Central American countries. SeeUnited Nations Statistics Division methods and classifications of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings. Please take note that the region of North America comprises Northern America, the Caribbean, and Central America. Likewise, Greenland has been included in North America.
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1.5 SOURCES FOR THE STATISTICS
The data displayed at Internet World Stats comes from various information sources: mainly from the following data research sources and the following organizations: The Nielsen Company, from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Additional sources are the GfK Group, theComputer Industry Almanac, the CIA Fact Book, local NIC, local ISP, other public such as official Internet regulating agencies, and direct information from trustworthy and reliable research private sources. Nielsen Onlines's data corresponds to the home plus work panel current digital media total universe estimate. For growth comparison purposes, usage stats from ITU for the year 2000 are utilized as "benchmark", when available, as explained above in 1.2.
The Nielsen Company is a global standard for Internet audience measurement and analysis and is the industry's premier source for online advertising intelligence. This service covers 70 percent of the world's Internet usage (previously known as Nielsen//NetRatings) offers syndicated Internet and digital media research reports and custom-tailored data to help companies gain valuable insight into their business. For more information, please visit The Nielsen Company.
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is an international organization established in 1865, which today is part of the United Nations. For further details and information, please visit their web site at www.itu.int.
The Internet usage and population data presented here are the best estimates available, however a reasonable margin of error should be allowed for. Please refer to our Disclaimer in 1.9.
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1.6 COUNTRY CODES
The ISO 3166-1 English short country names and codes are used in the IWS website.
As of 23 July 2003 the ISO 3166-1 country code elements for Serbia and Montenegro are:CS (Alpha-2 code)
SCG (Alpha-3 code)
891 (Numeric-3 code)
The code elements YU and YUG representing Yugoslavia are obsolete now, and their use in applications of ISO 3166-1 should be phased out. The deletion of Yugoslavia from ISO 3166-1 also leads to the exclusion of the name in ISO 3166-3. See the official ISO country list here.
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1.7 GROSS NATIONAL INCOME (GNI) World Bank Atlas MethodIn calculating Gross National Income (GNI—formerly referred to as GNP) and GNI per capita in U.S. dollars for certain operational purposes, the World Bank uses the Atlas conversion factor. The purpose of the Atlas conversion factor is to reduce the impact of exchange rate fluctuations in the cross-country comparison of national incomes. |
Following current statistical practice, the World Bank has recently adopted the new terminology in line with the 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA. The changes in terms are listed below. | Previous terminology | New terminology | Gross national product, GNP | Gross national income, GNI | GNP per capita | GNI per capita | Private consumption | Household final consumption expenditure | General government consumption | General government final consumption expenditure | Gross domestic investment | Gross capital formation |
Many countries continue to compile their national accounts according to the 1968 SNA, but more and more are adopting the 1993 SNA. A few low-income countries still use concepts from older SNA guidelines, including valuations such as factor cost, in describing major economic aggregates. In general, the definitions under the 1993 SNA guidelines for these indicators remain as before, and only the terminology has changed. Exceptions are: GNI in constant prices, which differs from GNP in that it also includes terms of trade adjustment; and gross capital formation which now includes a third category of capital formation: net acquisition of valuables. Included in gross capital formation under the 1993 SNA are capital outlays on defense establishments that may be used by the general public, such as schools, airfields, and hospitals. These expenses were treated as consumption in the earlier version of the SNA.
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1.8 REPRODUCTION OF THE STATISTICS
The content of this website is intellectual property of its owner. Data from this web site may be cited freely, giving due credit to the original data sources and establishing an active link back toInternetWorldStats.com. However, the use of our graphs, tables, and/or statistics for commercial, business or academic purposes requires a licence. For obtaining a licence, please contact the editor. For full information about copyright law, registration, and licensing, visit U.S. Copyright Center.
For citing information sources, we recommend following the Duke University Guidelines. We also recommend reading the following article before using materials from the Internet.
1.9 DISCLAIMER
Most of the data in this site comes from independent sources, found displayed freely in the wide world web. Here is a sample of our information sources. Other data has been investigated and retrieved directly by our staff. All the information has been consolidated by IWS, giving due credit to the corresponding original sources when these are known, and establishing a link back if possible.IWS provides and published the data and displays statistics in good faith but does not guarantee the accuracy or provenience. Likewise IWS is not responsible for the use given to this information. The Internet usage and population data are best estimates available and a reasonable margin of error should be allowed for, as is usual for all statistical work.
In the event that any owner of the information cited or the sources opposes the publication of specific data, please let us know by advising our webmaster. We will promptly remove said data from our web site.
Visitors please take note that for statistical purposes Mexico has been included in the Central American countries statistics, according to the United Nations Statistics Division methods and classifications of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings. Turkey is included in the European statistics.
The designations employed and the presentation of material at this site do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on our part concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
The assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories by the United Nations or by this web page.
To this date, no confirmed figures for Internet Usage have been found for the following regions and territories of the world, some very small and some uninhabited, which do not affect significantly the overall statistical results:
AFRICA
1- Mayotte
2- Sahara (Western)
AMERICAS
1- Saint Pierre and Michelot
2- British Virgin Islands
3- Monserrat
4- Turk and Caicos Islands
ASIA
1- Korea, North - KP
EUROPE
1 - Isle of Man
2 - Svalbard and Jan Mayen IslandsOCEANIA
1 - American Samoa - AS
2 - Antarctica - AQ
3 - Bouvet Island - BV
4 - British Indian Ocean Territory - IO
5 - Chistmas Island - CX
6 - Palau - PW
7 - Pitcairn Islands - PN
8 - South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands
9 - Terres Australes
10- Territories of Australia
11- Other Smaller Territories.
Forwarding of information on Internet Usage for the above locations will be appreciated.
Hypertext Links
This site contains links to sites operated by third parties over which we have no control. IWS(Internet World Stats) makes no representations whatsoever about any other Web site that you may access through this one. Links imply neither that IWS is affiliated with or otherwise endorses any third parties nor that it is legally authorized to use any trademark, trade name, logo, or copyright symbol displayed in or accessible through the links, or that any linked site is authorized to use any trademark, trade name, logo, or copyright symbol of IWS.
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