More than one-third of the world's population has never used the internet, according to a new global report from the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
The ITU estimates that there are now 4.9 billion people online, up almost 800 million on the number pre-pandemic.
That progress was accelerated by the pandemic, but it still leaves ~2.9 billion people (roughly 9x the population of the US), without access. Many of those people live in lower-income or developing countries, with access in the least-developed countries in the world at just 27%.
Extremely online
Most of you reading this, and us who are writing it, could probably be described as extremely online. The internet likely touches our work, personal and social lives in some way. That's not the case for everyone who has access. Many of the 4.9 billion who have access might only have it infrequently, through shared devices or with a poor quality connection.
