Internet Users (% of Population): an Interactive Data Story from Our World in Data
This dataset gives the share of the population who used the internet in the last three months, from any device and location. It comes from the International Telecommunication Union via the World Bank and covers almost every country since 1990.
On this page the dataset is downloaded live from Our World in Data, straight into your browser, and turned into an interactive dashboard and a data story told as a timeline. Nothing is uploaded to a server and nothing needs installing.
Interactive dashboard and data story
At a glance
| Indicator | Internet Users (% of Population) |
| Unit | % |
| Coverage | yearly values from 1990 to the latest release |
| Highlighted entities | World, United States, China, India, Nigeria |
| OWID chart id | share-of-individuals-using-the-internet |
| Column | it_net_user_zs |
| Story format | Timeline |
| Source | Our World in Data, CC BY 4.0 |
Why this dataset is told as a timeline
Adoption curves and overtakes: the data suits a chart of rankings over time, laid out along a timeline.
Numbered stops along a central line that fills as you scroll, each one drawing its chart as it arrives. Datastripes can tell any dataset in eight formats: scrolling article, slide deck, conversation, newspaper front page, timeline, tap-through stories, quiz and bento grid. In automatic mode it picks one from the shape of the data. Here the format is fixed to the one that fits this indicator best. You can see every format side by side in the data story gallery.
Background
In 1990 practically nobody outside a few universities and research labs was online. Rich countries adopted the internet through the late 1990s and 2000s on desktop computers and broadband.
The rest of the world came online mostly through mobile phones. Cheap smartphones and data plans after 2010 brought hundreds of millions of people in China and India online in a few years. Today about two thirds of the world uses the internet, and a third still does not.
How the indicator is measured
Figures come from household surveys where available and from estimates based on subscriptions where they are not. The ITU definition counts anyone who used the internet in the last three months, which is a low bar.
What to look for in the data
- The world share went from near zero to about two thirds in roughly thirty years.
- China passed the world average soon after 2010 and kept climbing.
- India’s adoption accelerated sharply after cheap mobile data arrived around 2016.
- Nigeria and much of sub-Saharan Africa are still well below the world average.
Limits and caveats
- Using the internet once in three months is very different from regular, high-quality access.
- Survey years differ between countries, and gaps are filled with estimates.
- National averages hide large gaps between cities and the countryside, and between men and women.
Who uses internet users (% of population) data
- Telecom and tech market analysts
- Digital inclusion NGOs
- Development economists
- Tech journalists
How to analyze this dataset yourself
- Open the data. Download the CSV from the Our World in Data chart and drop it into Datastripes. It loads in your browser, with no upload.
- Filter the entities. The file has one row per country and year. Filter the
entitycolumn to the countries or regions you care about, or usecode(for exampleit_net_user_zs) to pick out aggregates. - Pick a time window. Sort or filter on the time column to isolate a period, such as the years before and after a policy change.
- Join other indicators. Add a second OWID file, for example GDP or population, and join it on entity and year to look for relations.
- Forecast and simulate. Run a no-code forecast on any series, or build what-if scenarios on top of it.
- Publish a story. Turn your filtered table into a data story in any of the eight formats and embed it on your site with the Datastripes dashboard widget.
Related data stories
- Global Population: bento grid
- Urbanization Rates: scrolling article
- Global Literacy Rates: app
- Self-reported Happiness: quiz
- All data stories in the gallery
Frequently asked questions
How many people are still offline?
Around 2.5 billion people, mostly in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Does mobile internet count?
Yes. Use from any device counts, including phones.
Why is the US not at 100%?
A share of older and rural Americans still do not use the internet regularly.
Data: Our World in Data, published under CC BY 4.0, downloaded in your browser when you open this page. Datastripes is not affiliated with Our World in Data. Visualisations are generated automatically and may lag behind the latest OWID release by a few days.