ICT
FACTS AND
“2016 marks the year when
the international community is
embarking on the implementation
of the 17 Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) and their 169 targets.
The International Telecommunication
Union, given the tremendous
development of ICTs, has a key role
to play in facilitating their attainment.
Our new data show that in 2016,
over two-thirds of the population
lives within an area covered by a
mobile broadband network and that
ICT services continue to become
more affordable. Despite these
unprecedented opportunities,
more than half of all people are not
yet using the Internet and large
differences in terms of broadband
speeds and quality exist. ITU data
inform public and private-sector
decision makers, and help us
accomplish our mission: to make use
of the full potential of ICTs for the
timely achievement of the SDGs.”
FIGURES
2016
Brahima Sanou,
Director of the ITU
Telecommunication
Development Bureau
Mobile network coverage and evolving technologies
8
n
World populatio
7
Seven billion people (95% of
the global population) live in
an area that is covered by a
mobile-cellular network.
6
Billion people
5
2G
Mobile-broadband networks
(3G or above) reach 84% of the
global population but only 67%
of the rural population.
4
sers
et u
Intern
3
LTE networks have spread quickly over the last three years and
reach almost 4 billion people
today (53% of the global population), enhancing the quality of
Internet use.
2
3G
LTE or higher
1
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Source: ITU.
Note: * Estimates. Mobile network coverage refers to the population that is covered by a mobile network.
2015
2016 *
WORLD’S OFFLINE
POPULATION, 2016
More than half the world’s population is not using the Internet
CIS
33.4%
Europe
20.9%
Asia & Pacific
58.1%
The Americas
35.0%
Africa
74.9%
Arab States
58.4%
Scale: 1 : 1.000.000
Percentage of individuals
NOT using the Internet
0 - 25
26 - 50
51 - 75
76 - 100
By end 2016, 3.9 billion people - 53% of the world’s
population – is not using the Internet.
In the Americas and the CIS regions, about one third of the
population is offline.
While almost 75% of people in Africa are non-users, only
21% of Europeans are offline.
In Asia and the Pacific and the Arab States, the percentage of
the population that is not using the Internet is very similar:
58.1 and 58.4%, respectively.
Note: The map is based on 2016 estimates. The base map for this infographic is based on the UN map database of the United Nation Cartographic Section.
Source: ITU.
MIND THE DIGITAL GENDER GAP
Internet penetration rate for men and women, 2016*
21.9
Africa
28.4
36.9
Arab States
39.5
Asia & Pacific
Internet penetration rates are
higher for men than for women
in all regions of the world.
46.1
47.5
64.4
65.6
65.0
68.5
The Americas
CIS
76.3
Europe
82.0
80.0
82.3
Developed
44.9
World
37.4
Developing
12.5
LDC
51.1
45.0
18.0
Female
Male
Source: ITU. Note: * Estimates. Penetration rates in this chart refer to the
number of of women/men that use the Internet, as a percentage of the
respective total female/male population. CIS refers to: Commonwealth
of Independent States.
Internet user gender gap (%), 2013 and 2016*
29.9
20.7
30.9
23.0
19.2
20.0
17.4
16.9
15.8
11.0
9.4
6.9
7.5
16.8
12.2
5.8
5.1
1.8
2.8
-0.4
Africa
Arab
States
Asia &
Pacific
Europe
2013
2016
Source: ITU. Note: * Estimates. The gender gap represents the difference
between the Internet user penetration rates for males and females
relative to the Internet user penetration rate for males, expressed as a
percentage. CIS refers to: Commonwealth of Independent States.
CIS
The
Americas
Developed
World
Developing
LDC
The global Internet user gender
gap grew from 11% in 2013 to
12% in 2016. The gap remains
large in the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs) - at 31%.
In 2016, the regional gender
gap is largest in Africa (23%) and
smallest in the Americas (2%).
THE DIGITAL DIVIDE IN 2016
Percentage of individuals using the Internet
81.0
79.1
40.1
15.2
LDCs
World
Developing
25.1
Developed
Asia & Pacific
Arab States
CIS
The Americas
47.1
41.9
41.6
Africa
%
Europe
Close to one out of two
people (47%) in the world are
using the Internet but only
one out of seven people in
the LDCs.
66.6
65.0
Developed regions are home
to one billion Internet users,
compared to 2.5 billion users
in the developing world.
Percentage of households with Internet access
83.8
84.0
67.8
11.1
LDCs
15.4
Developing
41.1
World
Arab States
CIS
The Americas
Europe
52.3
46.4
45.7
%
Asia & Pacific
Almost 1 billion households
in the world have Internet access, of which 230 million are
in China, 60 million in India
and 20 million in the world’s
48 LDCs.
Developed
64.4
Africa
Almost two-thirds of households in the Americas are
connected, compared with
half of all households globally.
Mobile-broadband subscriptions
49.4
42.6
19.4
LDCs
World
Developed
29.3
Developing
40.9
Africa
47.6
Asia & Pacific
CIS
The Americas
53.0
The total number of mobile-broadband subscriptions
is expected to reach 3.6 billion
by end 2016.
8.2
LDCs
11.9
Developing
30.1
World
0.7
Developed
10.5
Africa
4.8
Asia & Pacific
15.4
Arab States
18.9
CIS
30.0
The Americas
Strong growth in China is
driving fixed broadband in
Asia and the Pacific, where
fixed-broadband penetration
is expected to surpass 10% by
end 2016.
Europe
Fixed-broadband penetration
remains at below 1% in Africa
and the LDCs.
Per 100 inhabitants
Fixed-broadband subscriptions
0.8
Source: ITU. Note: Data are estimates. CIS refers to: Commonwealth of Independent States.
In developing countries, the
number of mobile-broadband
subscriptions continues to
grow at double digit rates,
reaching a penetration rate of
close to 41%.
78.2
Arab States
76.6
Europe
Per 100 inhabitants
90.3
ICT PRICES
By end 2015, 83 developing countries had achieved
the Broadband Commission’s affordability target
In 2011, the Broadband
Commission for Digital
Development set the following
target:
100
90
Number of countries
80
Developing (excl. LDCs)
LDCs
“By 2015, entry-level broadband
services should be made affordable
in developing countries through
adequate regulation and market
forces (amounting to less than 5%
of average monthly income).”
70
45
60
50
1
40
Developed
Five LDCs achieved the Broadband Commission target, but in
the majority of the world’s poorest countries broadband remains
unaffordable.
30
43
20
35
7
10
1
5
7
4
2-5
5-8
8-10
0
0-2
5
2
1
12
8
9
10-20
20-30
>30
2015 broadband prices as a % of GNI p.c.
Source: ITU. Note: Broadband prices refer to the most affordable service:
either fixed or mobile broadband.
Fixed- and mobile-broadband prices, PPP$, 2015 (left) and price of 1GB
computer-based mobile-broadband services as a percentage of GNI p.c. (right)
26.7
35
Mobile 15.9
Broadband
30.8
30
As a % of GNI p.c.
39.9
56.3
27.8
Fixed
Broadband
67.3
134.0
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
20
40
60
80
100 120 140
2013
2014
2015
2015 broadband prices in PPP$
World
World
Developed
Developed
Developing
Developing
LDCs
LDCs
Mobile-broadband services have become
more affordable than fixed-broadband
services. By end 2015, average mobilebroadband prices corresponded to 5.5% of
GNI p.c. worldwide.
The average price of a basic fixed-broadband
plan is more than twice as high as the
average price of a comparable mobilebroadband plan.
Source: ITU. Note: Based on simple averages including data for 159 economies
(left) and 147 economies (right). Prices are based on 1GB cap.
In LDCs, fixed-broadband services are on
average more than three times as expensive
as mobile-broadband services.
BROADBAND SPEEDS
Large differences in fixed-broadband penetration and speed persist
In early 2016, three out of four
fixed-broadband subscriptions had
advertised speeds of 10 Mbit/s and
above in the developed countries,
compared with two out of four in
the developing countries.
Developed
World
In the LDCs, overall fixed-broadband penetration remains very low
and only 7% of fixed-broadband
subscriptions are advertised at
speeds above 10 Mbit/s.
Developing
LDC
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Fixed-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, by speed, 2015
Data on broadband by speed not available
>10 Mbit/s
>2 to <10 Mbit/s
>256 kbit/s to <2 Mbit/s
Source: ITU.
Fixed-broadband subscriptions by speed, selected countries, 2015
France
Korea (Rep.)
Russian
Federation
China
Germany
UAE
United States +
Brazil
Japan
Mexico
Italy
Colombia
>10 Mbit/s
>2 Mbit/s to <10 Mbit/s
Armenia
Malaysia
Venezuela
Morocco
Namibia
Zimbabwe
>256 kbit/s to <2 Mbit/s
The size of the circle
represents the
fixed-broadband
penetration
Source: ITU. Note: + 2014 data.
M2M, IoT AND BANDWIDTH
Internet bandwidth remains unequally distributed across the world
200,000
Europe
180,000
160,000
46
CIS
140,000
Gbit/s
131
The Americas
24
Arab States
120,000
15
Asia & Pacific
100,000
13
Africa
80,000
60,000
6
Developed
40,000
93
Developing
20,000
13
LDCs 1
0
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
kbit/s per inhabitant, 2015
Africa
By early 2016, total international Internet bandwidth had reached
185’000 Gbit/s, up from 30’000 in 2008.
CIS
Arab States
Africa has the lowest international connectivity of all regions: there
is twice as much bandwidth per inhabitant available in Asia and
the Pacific, four times as much in the CIS region, eight times as
much in the Americas and more than twenty times as much in
Europe.
Asia & Pacific
The Americas
Europe
Lack of international connectivity is a major bottleneck in the Internet infrastructure of LDCs.
Source: ITU. CIS refers to: Commonwealth of Independent States.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is in its early stages
Based on available data, there were 22
mobile-cellular subscriptions for each
machine-to-machine (M2M) subscription worldwide at the beginning of
2015.
Sweden
New Zealand
Norway
Finland
France
The countries with the highest M2M
penetration rates are highly industrialized, advanced economies, including
the Northern European countries of
Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.
Denmark
United States
Ireland
Belgium
Bulgaria
Estonia
Italy
Slovakia
Spain
Luxembourg
South Africa
Germany
Korea (Rep.)
Czech Republic
Iceland
0
10
20
30
40
M2M subscriptions per 100 mobile-cellular subscriptions
50
Source: ITU. Note: Data refer to early 2015.
ITU DATA
VISUALISATION
TOOL
•Results of the ICT
Development Index, ITU’s
key benchmarking tool
•Key ICT indicators
•Global, regional and
national comparisons
www.itu.int/MIS2015
ITU 14th World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium (WTIS),
21-23 November 2016, Botswana
www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/events/wtis2016/default.aspx
ITU Measuring the Information Society Report 2015
www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/publications/mis2015.aspx
ITU Yearbook of Statistics 2015
www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/publications/yb2015.aspx
ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database
www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/publications/wtid.aspx
For more information:
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, June 2016
© International Telecommunication Union