ICT
2015
“This year governments are making their final assessment of the UN Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), which global leaders agreed upon in the year 2000. Over the past 15 years the ICT revolution has driven global development in an unprecedented way. Technological progress, infrastructure deployment, and falling prices have brought unexpected growth in ICT access and connectivity to billions of people around the world. In 2015 there are more than 7 billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide, up from less than 1 billion in 2000. Globally 3.2 billion people are using the Internet of which 2 billion are from developing countries. ICTs will play an even more significant role in the post 2015 development agenda and in achieving future sustainable development goals as the world moves faster and faster towards a digital society.
Our mission is to connect everyone and to create a truly inclusive information society, for which we need comparable and high-quality data and statistics to measure progress.”
Brahima Sanou, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau
MDGs
2000
400 MILLION INTERNET USERS
Developed countries
2015*
3.2 BILLION INTERNET USERS
Developed countries
Developing countries LDCs Developing countries LDCs
100 million people
(rounded values)
Online Offline Source: ITU.
Note: * Estimates.
• Globally 3.2 billion people are using the
Internet by end 2015, of which 2 billion are from developing countries
• For every Internet user in the developed world there are 2 in the developing world
• However, 4 billion people from developing countries remain offline, representing 2/3 of the population residing in developing countries
• Of the 940 million people living in the least developed countries
(LDCs), only 89 million use the Internet, corresponding to a 9.5% penetration rate

100
90
30
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
96.8
95.3
47.2
46.4
43.4
10.8
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015*
Mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions
Mobile broadband subscriptions
Individuals using the Internet
Fixed-broadband subscriptions
Source: ITU.
Note: * Estimates.
Population covered by 2G mobile-cellular network
Households with Internet
• By end 2015, there are more than 7 billion mobile cellular subscriptions, corresponding to a penetration rate of 97%, up from 738 million in 2000
• Between 2000-2015, global
Internet penetration grew 7 fold from 6.5% to 43%
• Mobile broadband is the most dynamic market segment; globally, mobile- broadband penetration reaches 47% in 2015, a value that increased 12 times since 2007
• The proportion of households with Internet access at home increased from 18% in 2005 to 46% in 2015
• Fixed-broadband uptake is growing at a slower pace, with a 7% annual increase over the past three years and reaching 11% penetration by end 2015
• The proportion of the population covered by a 2G mobile-cellular network grew from 58% in 2001 to 95% in 2015
2011 2015* 2015*
3G population coverage,
45%
3G population coverage,
69%
3G rural population coverage,
29%
World rural population 3.4 billion
World population 7 billion
Source: ITU.
Note: * Estimates.
World population 7.4 billion
No 3G population coverage
3G population coverage
3G urban population coverage,
89%
World urban population 4 billion

Percentage of households with Internet access
%
82.1
Eu ro pe
Th e A m er icas
60.0
81.3
60.1
40.3
†
CIS
Ar ab
S ta te s
As ia & P ac ific
39.0
10.7
Afr ica
De ve lop ed
46.4
34.1
W orld
De ve lop ing
6.7
LD
Cs
Percentage of individuals using the Internet
• By end 2015, 34% of households in developing countries have Internet access, compared with more than 80% in developed countries
• In least developed countries (LDCs), only
7% of households have Internet access, compared with the world average of 46%
%
77.6
Eu ro pe
Th e A m er icas
82.2
66.0
59.9
37.0
36.9
20.7
†
CIS
Ar ab
S ta te s
As ia & P ac ific
Afr ica
De ve lop ed
43.4
W orld
De ve lop
35.3
ing
9.5
LD
Cs
Mobile broadband subscriptions
• Internet penetration in developing countries stands at 35%; LDCs lag behind with only 10%
• In Africa, one in 5 people use the Internet today, compared to almost 2 in
5 people in Asia & Pacific, and 3 in 5 people in the CIS
78.2
Eu ro pe
Th e A m er icas
77.6
86.7
49.7
40.6
42.3
†
CIS
Ar ab
S ta te s
As ia & P ac ific
17.4
Afr ica
De ve lop ed
46.1
W orld
De ve lop
39.1
ing
12.1
LD
Cs
Fixed-broadband subscriptions
• Mobile-broadband penetration levels are highest in Europe and the Americas, at around
78 active subscriptions per 100 inhabitants
• Africa is the only region where mobile broadband penetration remains below 20%
29.6
Eu ro pe
Th e A m er icas
18.0
13.6
3.7
8.9
†
CIS
Ar ab
S ta te s
As ia & P ac ific
29.0
0.5
Afr ica
De ve lop ed
10.8
7.1
W orld
De ve lop ing
0.5
LD
Cs
• Fixed-broadband penetration remains at less than 1% in LDCs
• Africa and the Arab
States stand out as the regions with the fewest fixed-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, at less than 1 and less than
4, respectively
Source: ITU.
Note: * Estimates.
† CIS Commonwealth of Independent States.

43
Broadband Commission target (5% of GNI p.c.)
Postpaid computer-based mobile broadband
(1GB)
16.3
30.1
35.3
1
35
0-2
32
2-5
12
5-8
5
8-10
10 11 11
10-20 20-30 >30
2014 broadband prices as a % of GNI p.c.
†
52.3
Postpaid fixed-broadband
(1GB)
22.5
74.5
0 20 40 60
2014 broadband prices in PPP$ *
80
• In 2014, in 111 countries the price of a basic (fixed or mobile) broadband plan corresponds to less than
5% of average GNI per capita, thus meeting the Broadband
Commission target
• The global average price of a basic fixedbroadband plan (52
PPP$) is 1.7 times higher than the average price of a comparable mobile-broadband plan (30 PPP$)
• In developing countries, average monthly fixedbroadband prices (in
PPP$) are 3 times higher than in developed countries; mobilebroadband prices are twice as expensive as in developed countries
World
Developed
Developing
Note: †
Source: ITU.
Either fixed broadband or mobile broadband. *Based on simple averages including data for 160 economies.
Subscriptions
35
30
29.0
25
20
15
10
10.8
7.1
5
0
2000 20
01
20
02
20
03
20
04
20
05
20
06
20
07
20
08
20
09
20
10
20
11
20
12
20
13
20
14
20
15*
0.5
Developed World
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Prices
2008 2009 2010
Developing LDCs
2011 2012 2013
129.5
63.6
52.3
26.8
2014
• Fixed-broadband uptake remains slow in developing countries and particularly in LDCs, where penetration rates are now at 7% and less than 1%, respectively.
• While the prices of fixedbroadband plans dropped sharply between 2008 and 2011, especially in developing countries, they have been stagnating since then and even increased slightly in LDCs
Source: ITU.
Note: * Estimates.
† Simple averages.

Korea (Rep.)
France
Iceland
Denmark
Andorra
Switzerland
United Kingdom*
Belgium
Japan
Sweden
Spain
Finland †
Portugal
Norway* †
United States* †
Hungary
Germany
Canada* †
Bulgaria
Singapore
Greece
Australia* †
Romania
Ireland
Austria
Slovenia
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Russian Federation
Poland**
Kazakhstan
Italy
Croatia
Chile
United Arab Emirates †
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Brazil
Bahrain
Belarus
Azerbaijan
Armenia
Colombia
Malaysia
Morocco
Qatar
Kyrgyzstan
Venezuela
Ecuador
Tunisia
Costa Rica
Oman
Egypt
Guyana
Namibia
Bolivia
Honduras
Zimbabwe
Senegal
Pakistan
Zambia
0
0.09
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
>10 Mbit/s
>2 to <10 Mbit/s
>256 kbit/s to <2Mbit/s
Source: ITU.
Note: Refers to advertised speeds. * Data correspond to speed intervals slightly different from the ones defined by ITU.** Breakdown by speed available only for a part of the total fixedbroadband subscriptions.
† Data include terrestrial fixed wireless broadband and/or satellite-broadband subscriptions.
40
Fixed-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, by speed, early 2014 (selected countries)
45

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
13th World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium (WTIS), Hiroshima, Japan, 30 November to 2 December 2015, http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/events/wtis2015/registration.aspx
Measuring the Information Society Report 2014, http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/publications/mis2014.aspx
Manual for Measuring ICT Access and Use by Households and Individuals 2014, http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/publications/manual2014.aspx
Final WSIS Targets Review: Achievements, Challenges and the Way Forward, http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/publications/wsistargets2014.aspx
Yearbook of Statistics 2014, http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/publications/yb2014.aspx
Handbook for the Collection of Administrative Data on Telecommunications/ICT 2011, http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/publications/handbook.aspx
ICT Data and Statistics Division
Telecommunication Development Bureau
International Telecommunication Union
Place des Nations
1211 Geneva 20 - Switzerland indicators@itu.int
www.itu.int/ict
Printed in Switzerland
Geneva, May 2015
© International Telecommunication Union