Tonight’s “By the Numbers” post focuses on something a bit more macro than the rest. I recently had to write a piece about internet usage and needed to find out how many people used the internet. That got me thinking that we often look at individual websites and platforms here, but I’ve never taken a step back and explored the framework that makes all of this possible.

Photo by James Cridland

Here are the most interesting internet usage statistics I was able to dig up including how many people actually use the internet and how many don’t.

As always, I will be updating this post often, so be sure to check back in the future for updated and new stats.

Internet Usage Statistics and Facts

How many people use the internet:

3.47 billion people

Last updated 12/7/17

Number of people who used the internet in 2000:

400 million people

Percentage of world population that has access to the internet:

46.8%

Last updated 12/7/17

Percentage of households that have internet access at home:

46%

Last updated 12/31/15

Number of people who do not have access to the internet:

4.2 billion people

Last updated 5/26/15

Percentage of people in developed countries that have internet access:

82.2%

Last updated 5/26/15

Percentage of people in developing countries that have internet access:

35.3%

Last updated 5/26/15

Continent with highest internet penetration rate:

North America w/86.9%

Last updated 12/31/14

Continent with lowest internet penetration rate:

Africa w/27.2%

Last updated 12/31/14

Nation with the lowest percentage of its population with internet access:

Myanmar (99.5% don’t have access)

Last updated 10/2/14

Number of internet users in China:

751 million

Last updated July 2017

Percentage of the internet that is hidden or dark:

95-96%

Last updated 8/15/16

Number of internet users in the UK:

54.8 million

Last updated 9/13/17

Number of internet users in Southeast Asia:

330 million

Last updated 12/12/17

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