Four measures of connectivity across 188 countries, from 1995 to 2024.
Source: International Telecommunication Union and World Bank, via Our World in Data. Internet use counts anyone who has used the internet in the previous three months, by any device. Mobile subscriptions can exceed 100 per hundred people because many people hold more than one SIM. Fixed broadband counts household connections rather than individuals, so it understates access where one connection serves several people.
Switch between mobile subscriptions and fixed broadband and the map reorders substantially. That difference is the most useful thing on this page.
Much of Africa, South Asia and Latin America went online without ever building fixed-line infrastructure. Mobile subscriptions in those regions frequently exceed 100 per hundred people while broadband sits in low single digits. Connectivity arrived, but it arrived on a phone, metered by the megabyte, on a network that may be congested or intermittent.
That has consequences the headline internet figure conceals. Uploading is expensive. Video is rationed. Anything requiring a sustained connection — remote work, online education, large file transfer — is harder in ways a 70% internet-use figure does not convey.
Fixed broadband is the better proxy for the kind of connectivity that supports economic activity rather than consumption.
Mobile subscriptions routinely exceed 100 per hundred people. Many people hold two or more SIMs, often to arbitrage tariffs between networks. It measures connections, not people.
Fixed broadband counts households, not individuals. One connection may serve six people, so the figure understates who actually has access.
The internet-use definition is loose. Anyone who has used the internet in the previous three months, by any device, counts. It does not distinguish between someone with continuous high-speed access and someone who checked messages once at an internet café.
Total users stops at 2021. The underlying series was discontinued. Hovering a country shows its most recent value with the year attached.
Trends matter more than levels here. Almost every country has risen sharply since 1995. Use the year buttons to see who moved fastest, and when.
Connectivity underlies most of the digital transition my research examines. AI adoption, Industry 4.0, digital ecosystems — all assume an infrastructure that this map shows is unevenly distributed.
My own work on digital technology and sustainable development:
Data from the International Telecommunication Union and the World Bank, via Our World in Data.