Internet Users Will Surpass 2 Billion This Year

REUTERS – According to Reuters, the number of internet users this year is going to grow as high as one third of the world population, which is 2 billion people.

According to reports by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), only on 2010, there has been over 226 million new Internet users.

In the past five years, the Union informs, the number of users have doubled. One third of the world population (6.9 billion people) are currently online.

By the end of 2010, 71 percent of the population in developed countries will be online, as opposed to the 21 percent of the population in developing countries.

“Broadband is the next tipping point, the next truly transformational technology,” said ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure, of Mali. “It can generate jobs, drive growth and productivity and underpin long-term economic competitiveness.”

In developing countries, only 13.5 percent of people have the Internet at home, while in developed countries, 65 percent of people have access. In each region, the numbers also vary widely. In Africa, only 9.6 percent of the population have access to the Internet, while in Europe 65% of people have Internet access, 55% in the Americas and 21.9 percent in Asia/Pacific, according to the ITU.

Last week, another study made by a U.N. agency proved “that mobile phones were a far more important communications technology for people in the poorest developing countries than the Internet.” Reuters informed today.