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Surprising Stats on the Internet and Emerging Markets
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With rising wealth in emerging markets in recent years, people across the globe have quickly acquired a taste for mobile phone and Internet technology. The following slides highlight 10 surprising facts about this fast-growing emerging market trend.
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- Only 35 percent of the world’s population uses the Internet today. Yet, of those on the Web, the majority currently lives in a developing country.
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- China has the largest number of Internet users—485 million to be exact—but this is only one-third of the country’s population. After the U.S., India comes in third with 100 million users, but this is less than 10 percent of its population. Brazil holds the number five position with nearly 76 million users—only one-third of its population.
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- South Korea is home to the world’s fastest Internet speeds. According to Pando Networks, a company that collects information about Internet usage, South Korea has the quickest download speeds, averaging 2,202 KBps. Romania and Bulgaria claim the second and third highest speeds, while the U.S. ranked 26th.
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- Internet usage in Nigeria is set to triple by 2013. The country recently installed a fiber optic cable extending nearly 4,500 miles linking West Africa to Europe. Experts predict by 2013, at least one in three Nigerians could have access to the Internet.
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- Ninety-seven percent of all households in the Republic of Korea can connect to the Internet. The country also has the highest mobile-broadband penetration worldwide. United Nations specialized agency ITU says that implementing policies have made the Republic of Korea an “IT powerhouse.”
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- Although millions of people are connected throughout the world, millions more are not. Iran is one of several countries that have taken aggressive steps to monitor Internet usage. The Wall Street Journal reports the country is near the bottom in terms of Internet accessibility, with only 11 out of every 100 Iranians having access to the Internet.
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- The U.S. isn’t the only fan of Facebook. Although Americans overwhelmingly make up the majority of Facebook users, Indonesia has the second-highest number of members, with 40 million accounts. India, Turkey and Mexico have more than 30 million members each, according to CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets Research data.
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- Brazilians love to interact with family and friends through the social networking site Orkut. In 2011, the site claimed to have 66 million users worldwide with about 90 percent of pages views originating in Brazil. Orkut was only recently passed by Facebook as the country’s largest social networking site.
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- China has become the world’s largest smartphone market by volume in the third quarter of 2011. According to Bloomberg News, smartphone shipments to China topped almost 24 million units during the quarter, nearly 1 million more deliveries than the U.S.
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- In addition to keeping the world connected, the Internet is also a driver of economic growth. Through e-commerce, almost $8 trillion exchange hands each year, says McKinsey Global Institute in its new report on the impact of the Internet. McKinsey says the Internet has made a significant contribution to world GDP growth.
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