Internet breaks the billion barrier

By Davey Winder
Friday, 23 January 2009 15:41

Networking

Ever wondered just how many people use the Internet? The answer, according to the latest figures, would seem to be 1 billion. We breakdown that billion to find out where they are all coming from.

I can recall getting far too excited last year when the World of Warcraft population whizzed past the 11 million mark.

Then I nearly wet my pants when it was revealed that there 70 million mobile phone connections in the UK and only 60 million people.

From this you can, quite accurately, deduce that I am far too interested in nerdy numbers. How about the small fact that, as of last year, more people had been killed in Halo 3 than the entire population of the planet for example?

But now comes the big one, the number everyone has been waiting for: just how many people are there online? According to the latest comScore World Metrix figures the answer is 1 billion.

Well, 1,007,730,000 to be precise. And that only includes Internet users over the age of 15. If you lump everyone in, including the kids, then the figure is likely to be much higher.

Indeed, just last year IDC were suggesting a total number of 1.4 billion and claiming this would double within eight years.

However, the comScore figures seem pretty well researched and, importantly, provide us with great insight into the make-up of the global Internet audience.

Which is where things get really interesting, especially when looking at specific regions and statistics such as which country has the highest Internet population on the planet and which countries are losing out in those global league tables.

Find out more as the story unfolds on page 2.

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