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INTERNET GROWTH STATISTICS
Today's
road to e-Commerce and Global Trade
Internet Technology Reports
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And the
" Global Village " became a Reality
Internet has made real
what in the 1970's that visionary of the communications Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) called the "Global Village".
The Internet is defined as the worldwide interconnection of
individual networks operated by government, industry, academia,
and private parties. Originally the Internet served to interconnect
laboratories engaged in government research, and since 1994 it has
been expanded to serve millions of users and a multitude of purposes
in all parts of the world.
In a matter of very few years, the Internet has consolidated
itself as a very powerful platform that has changed the way we do
business, and the way we communicate. The Internet, as no other
communication medium, has given an International or, if you prefer, a
"Globalized" dimension to the world. Internet has become the Universal source
of information for millions of people, at home, at school, and at work.
Internet is actually the most democratic of all the mass media.
With a very low investment, anyone can have a web page in
Internet. This way, almost any business can reach a very large
market, directly, fast and economically, no matter the size or
location of the business. With a very low investment, almost
anybody that can read and write can have access to the World Wide
Web.
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“When I took
office, only high energy physicists
had ever heard of what is called the World Wide
Web... Now even my cat has it's own page.”
-
Bill Clinton
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History
and Growth of the Internet from 1945 to 1995
Before getting into the numbers, let's take a look at
the
fascinating history of the Internet, from 1945 to 1995, by
courtesy of the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C).
History
and Growth of the Internet from 1995 till Today
Today the Internet continues to grow day by day making
McLuhan's Global Village a reality. The following table
shows the incredibly fast evolution of the Internet from
1995 till the present time:
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DATE
|
NUMBER OF USERS
|
% WORLD
POPULATION
|
INFORMATION
SOURCE
|
|
|
|
|
|
December, 1995
|
16 millions
|
0.4 %
|
IDC
|
|
December,
1996
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36 millions
|
0.9 %
|
IDC
|
|
December,
1997
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70 millions
|
1.7 %
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IDC
|
|
December,
1998
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147 millions
|
3.6 %
|
C.I. Almanac
|
|
December,
1999
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248 millions
|
4.1 %
|
Nua
Ltd.
|
|
March,
2000
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304 millions
|
5.0 %
|
Nua
Ltd.
|
|
July,
2000
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359 millions
|
5.9 %
|
Nua
Ltd.
|
|
December,
2000
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361 millions
|
5.8 %
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Internet World
Stats
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|
March,
2001
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458 millions
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7.6 %
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Nua
Ltd.
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|
June,
2001
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479 millions
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7.9 %
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Nua
Ltd.
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|
August,
2001
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513 millions
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8.6 %
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Nua
Ltd.
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April,
2002
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558 millions
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8.6 %
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Internet World
Stats
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|
July,
2002
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569 millions
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9.1 %
|
Internet World
Stats
|
|
September,
2002
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587 millions
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9.4 %
|
Internet World
Stats
|
|
March,
2003
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608 millions
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9.7 %
|
Internet World
Stats
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|
September,
2003
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677 millions
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10.6 %
|
Internet World
Stats
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|
October,
2003
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682 millions
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10.7 %
|
Internet World
Stats
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December,
2003
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719 millions
|
11.1 %
|
Internet World
Stats
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|
February,
2004
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745 millions
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11.5 %
|
Internet World
Stats
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|
May,
2004
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757 millions
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11.7 %
|
Internet World
Stats
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|
October,
2004
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812 millions
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12.7 %
|
Internet World
Stats
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|
December,
2004
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817 millions
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12.7 %
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Internet World
Stats
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March,
2005
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888 millions
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13.9 %
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Internet World
Stats
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June,
2005
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938 millions
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14.6 %
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Internet World
Stats
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September,
2005
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957 millions
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14.9 %
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Internet World
Stats
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November,
2005
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972 millions
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15.2 %
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Internet World
Stats
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December,
2005
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1,018 millions
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15.7 %
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Internet World
Stats
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March,
2006
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1,023 millions
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15.7 %
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Internet World
Stats
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June,
2006
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1,043 millions
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16.0 %
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Internet World
Stats
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Sept,
2006
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1,086 millions
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16.7 %
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Internet World
Stats
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Dec,
2006
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1,093 millions
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16.7 %
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Internet World
Stats
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Mar,
2007
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1,129 millions
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17.2 %
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Internet World
Stats
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June,
2007
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1,173 millions
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17.8 %
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Internet World
Stats
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|
Sept,
2007
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1,245 millions
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18.9 %
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Internet World
Stats
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Dec,
2007
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1,319 millions
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20.0 %
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Internet World
Stats
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Mar,
2008
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1,407 millions
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21.1 %
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Internet World
Stats
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June,
2008
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1,463 millions
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21.9 %
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Internet World
Stats
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Sept,
2008
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1,504 millions
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22.5 %
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Internet World
Stats
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Dec,
2008
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1,574 millions
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23.5 %
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Internet World
Stats
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Mar,
2009
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1,596 millions
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23.8 %
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Internet World
Stats
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June,
2009
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1,669 millions
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24.7 %
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Internet World
Stats
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Sept,
2009
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1,734 millions
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25.6 %
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Internet World
Stats
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Dec,
2009
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1,802 millions
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26.6 %
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Internet World
Stats
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June,
2010
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1,966 millions
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28.7 %
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Internet World
Stats
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Sept,
2010
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1,971 millions
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28.8 %
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Internet World
Stats
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Mar,
2011
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2,095 millions
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30.2 %
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Internet World
Stats
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Jun,
2011
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2,110 millions
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30.4 %
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Internet World
Stats
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Sept,
2011
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2,180 millions
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31.5 %
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Internet World
Stats
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Statistics of the Internet
The Internet has made distances shorter and the world
smaller.
However, the great divider that stands in the way of a truly
global
society is fact that there are many different different
languages
spoken in our planet Earth. The following table shows the
ten
most numerous languages spoken by the Internet
users.
To see old (Historic) Internet World Usage Statistics click here.
For detailed information on the Internet from
Wikipedia.org click
here.
For more on the Internets history and its relationship with the
information
revolution read NetValleys informative nine part report.
For current up to date Internet User Statistics click here.
Click here for
information on the 1995 to 2005 domain count growth.
For 1993-1996 domain
count data see Internet Growth
Summary.
History
of the Internet
Learn what the internet is and how it works, video
about the creation of the Internet, its development,
and evolution, in 8:10 minutes, at YouTube
Another short video about
Internet History
.
Here you will find the
Internet History
in a few links
Learn about Leonard Kleinrock who in 1962 invented
the packet-switching technology that made it all
possible.
You can see a timetable
highlighting some of the Internet key events and technologies
that helped shape the Internet as we know it today at the Hobbes Internet Timeline.
The Internet Virtual Library
also features a very complete
page with links about the Internet History.
The Living Internet
is a free web site, including
more than
700 pages about the Internets history, design, advanced
use,
key features, security issues, help resources, and
references
to additional information about the Internet.
The Internet Archive
is another interesting website.
They are
building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural
artifacts
in digital form, like a paper library. Free access is provided to
researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.
The Internet Archive is huge and growing every day. They have
received help from Sun Microsystems for storing the database,
in what could be called, literally Internet in a Box
. See the 30
minute video where Brewster Kahle and Greg Papadopolous
unveil the Wayback Machines new datacente.
The Historical Text Archive
is another interesting website, with
a story to tell. They publish articles and links to books, essays and
photos for a broad range of historical and cultural subjects. Here
you can see initial use of the Internet by academia in the 1980s.
World Wide Web
Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops
interoperable
technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools)
to lead
the Web to its full potential. W3C is a forum for information,
commerce,
communication, and collective understanding. On the W3C page,
you'll
find news, links to W3C technologies, help and ways to get
involved.
Public participation is welcome at the W3C
Internet
Technology
A Complete Web Technology
Reference Library
These five reports condense the major technologies of the World Wide Web,
written for the technical specialists as well as for the non-technical readers.
Take a look at the executive summaries for full content details.
Internet Technology - Volume 1 -
Infrastructure
Internet Technology - Volume 2 -
Web Audio-Visual Coding
Internet Technology - Volume 3 -
IP Techniques
Internet Technology - Volume 4 -
IPv6 Connectivity
Internet Technology - Volume 5 -
Routing and Addressing Crisis
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