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Internet World Stats

Welcome to Internet World Stats, the premier website for international Internet usage statistics, world population data and web growth information. Here you will find statistical Internet usage data and population figures for over 265 countries and regions of the world, consolidated from various periodic surveys and official country user records. This huge amount of information is processed and displayed in a unique and practical way in the form of original tables and graphs.

The following notes provide a detailed explanation of the architecture and structure of this directory. Reading below will save you time navigating and will also help you to achieve the maximum benefits from your web site visit.

With the help of our partners at Web-Translations, this site surfing guide is also available in Chinese (simplified), Japanese, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, Korean, Russian and Spanish. This is a benefit for our many non-English speaking visitors from around the world.

Stats is an abbreviation for the word statistics, a branch of mathematics dealing with the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of masses of numerical data, in the form of a collection of quantitative data.

The Internet World Stats web site (IWS for short) is divided into several sections, each one providing specific market research information. For fast navigation, most main pages have content links on the left hand column and all pages have a user friendly surfing menu at the bottom of each page. Additionally a pop-up website search tool and site menu has been included to help you find subjects real fast. Just go to the Site Links (the pop-up menu opens in a new window) and click on the link of your interest, or write your query in the search box.

We hope you enjoy navigating our website and that you find the content useful. Your feedback, ideas, suggestions, and contributions are always welcome. To reach us, use this contact form

Bookmark this website for your convenience (in Windows, simply click "control"+"D"), and please remember to refresh the pages you view in order to get the latest information. Content is updated frequently.

This Site Surfing Guide features the following information:

• 1 - Internet Usage Statistics and World Population Pages
  
• 2 - Regional and Individual Country Pages
  
• 3 - Market Research Help Pages
  
• 4 - The IWS Newsletter - Privacy Policy
  
• 5 - The Internet Coaching Library Pages
  
• 6 - Search Engine Strategies
  
• 7 - Linking to this Site
  
• 8 - Web Site Link Directory
  
• 9 - New Industry Stats Section
  
• 10- Internet Users by Language
  
• 11 - Good Statistical Practices
  
• 12 - What's New Web Log (Blog)
  
• 13 - About Us
  
• 14 - Search this Website
  
• 15 - Reproduction of these Statistics and Disclaimer.
  
• 16 - Privacy Policy
• 17 - Abreviations

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1. INTERNET USAGE AND WORLD POPULATION STATISTICS
The World Population and Internet User information is the main demographic content for this web site. It has been collected by our webmaster since 2000 and is displayed in the statistics pages. There are six individual statistical tables for the main geographical regions of the world (Africa, America, Asia, Europe, Middle East, and Oceania), also a general world summary page called the big picture, a top usage countries table, a most penetrated countries table, a most populated countries table and a unique table containing Internet usage by languages. Other analysis are being added periodically, for example: G8 country usage, Spanish speakers, etc. For information on the sources, definitions, the methodology and details about the data displayed please read the following notes.


1.1 INTERNET USAGE
Before we can measure or forecast Internet Usage, we must first answer a basic question: What is an Internet user? Research firms, analysts, consultancies and other sources all disagree on how to answer this seemingly simple question.

The ITU subscribes to the definition of an Internet user as someone aged 2 years old and above, who went online in the past 30 days. The US Department of Commerce, in contrast, defines Internet users as those 3 years or older who 'currently use' the Internet. The CNNIC defines the Internet user as a Chinese citizen, aged 6 or above, who uses the Internet at least one hour per week. Other market researchers have there own definitions.

We believe that a definition must be as general and as simple as possible. For analyzing and comparing Internet users on a global scale, IWS adopts as its benchmark a broad definition and defines an Internet User as anyone currently in capacity to use the Internet. In our opinion, there are only two requirements for a person to be considered an Internet User:
(1) The person must have available access to an Internet connection point, and
(2) The person must have the basic knowledge required to use web technology.

That's it. No need to make complex something that is really quite simple. In many Third World countries one same Internet connection may be shared by many individual users. Due to this reason, Internet users might outnumber the amount of Internet access subscribers and also outnumber the telephone lines available in each country.

1.2 INTERNET GROWTH
In order to establish the relative growth rate of the Internet on a global basis, we compare the current (latest) Internet usage figures for each country or region with the year 2000, our baseline year for Internet usage figures, and express this ratio as a percentage. For information on the Historic Internet Growth data please click here, a new page will open. For the Current Internet World Usage Statistics, visit this page.

1.3 INTERNET PENETRATION RATE
The Internet Penetration Rate corresponds to the percentage of the total population of a given country or region that uses the Internet. Internet users are defined in 1.1. No adjustments have been made for infants or illiteracy in the Internet penetration rate calculations. Indeed very few countries have 100% literacy, Norway is one of them. Regarding the children, they are early adopters, when given the chance to surf the Internet.

For countries with penetration rates above 50%, the data will be marked in red in the corresponding pages. The list of the countries with Internet Penetration Rates over 50% may be found here. At Internet World Stats we support the 50x15 Initiative and invite you to do so also. Read about this important project for the future growth of the Internet at the Digital Divide page.

1.4 WORLD POPULATION
It is important to point out that Internet usage and population data go hand in hand. In order to determine the Internet Penetration Rate (IPR) for each country and region of the world we require accurate and up-to-date demographic data. Therefore the great majority of population figures we use are based on data published by the U.S. Census Bureau, and contained in their excellent website at: US Census Bureau, where you can also find detailed demographic information for many towns and cities for all the countries of the world.

Special note on China: Hong Kong (Xianggang) and Macao (Aomen) are both part of China, but these territories as well as Taiwan are reported separately for Internet Usage Statistical purposes. Therefore the total estimated population for China mainland has been adjusted accordingly in our statistical tables and charts.

Special note on Mexico: For statistical reasons, and following the United Nations Statistical Department, Mexico has been included together with the seven Central American countries. See United Nations Statistics Division methods and classifications of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings. Please take note that the continent of North America comprises Northern America, the Caribbean, and Central America.

1.5 SOURCES FOR THE STATISTICS
The Internet usage information displayed comes from various sources: mainly from data published by Nielsen//NetRatings and by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Additional sources are Computer Industry Almanac, the CIA Fact Book, local NIC, local ISP, other public and private sources, and direct information from trustworthy and reliable research sources. Nielsen NetRating's data corresponds to the home plus work panel current total digital media universe estimate. For growth comparison purposes, usage stats from ITU for the year 2000 are utilized, when available, as explained above in 1.2.

Nielsen//NetRatings is a global standard for Internet audience measurement and analysis and is the industry's premier source for online advertising intelligence. It covers 70 percent of the world's Internet usage, the Nielsen//NetRatings services offer syndicated Internet and digital media research reports and custom-tailored data to help companies gain valuable insight into their business. For more information, please visit www.nielsen-netratings.com.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is an international organization established in 1865, which today is part of the United Nations. For further details and information, please visit their web site at www.itu.int.

The Internet usage and population data presented here are the best estimates available, however a reasonable margin of error should be allowed for. Please refer to our Disclaimer in 1.9.

1.6 COUNTRY CODES
The ISO 3166-1 English short country names and codes are used in the IWS website.
As of 23 July 2003 the ISO 3166-1 country code elements for Serbia and Montenegro are:

CS (Alpha-2 code)
SCG (Alpha-3 code)
891 (Numeric-3 code)

The code elements YU and YUG representing Yugoslavia are obsolete now, and their use in applications of ISO 3166-1 should be phased out. The deletion of Yugoslavia from ISO 3166-1 also leads to the exclusion of the name in ISO 3166-3. See the official ISO country list here.

1.7 GROSS NATIONAL INCOME (GNI) World Bank Atlas Method

In calculating Gross National Income (GNI—formerly referred to as GNP) and GNI per capita in U.S. dollars for certain operational purposes, the World Bank uses the Atlas conversion factor. The purpose of the Atlas conversion factor is to reduce the impact of exchange rate fluctuations in the cross-country comparison of national incomes.

Following current statistical practice, the World Bank has recently adopted the new terminology in line with the 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA. The changes in terms are listed below.
Previous terminology	New terminology
Gross national product, GNP	Gross national income, GNI
GNP per capita	GNI per capita
Private consumption	Household final consumption expenditure
General government consumption	General government final consumption expenditure
Gross domestic investment	Gross capital formation

Many countries continue to compile their national accounts according to the 1968 SNA, but more and more are adopting the 1993 SNA. A few low-income countries still use concepts from older SNA guidelines, including valuations such as factor cost, in describing major economic aggregates. In general, the definitions under the 1993 SNA guidelines for these indicators remain as before, and only the terminology has changed. Exceptions are: GNI in constant prices, which differs from GNP in that it also includes terms of trade adjustment; and gross capital formation which now includes a third category of capital formation: net acquisition of valuables. Included in gross capital formation under the 1993 SNA are capital outlays on defense establishments that may be used by the general public, such as schools, airfields, and hospitals. These expenses were treated as consumption in the earlier version of the SNA.

1.8 REPRODUCTION OF THE STATISTICS
The content of this website is intellectual property of its owner. Data from this web site may be cited freely, giving due credit to the original data sources and establishing an active link back to InternetWorldStats.com. However, the use of our graphs, tables, and/or statistics for commercial, business or academic purposes requires a licence. For this please contact the Copyright Clearance Center.

For citing information sources, we recommend following the Duke University Guidelines. We also recommend reading the following article before using materials from the Internet.

1.9 DISCLAIMER
Most of the data in this site comes from independent sources, found displayed freely in the wide world web. Here is a sample of our information sources. Other data has been investigated and retrieved directly by our staff. All the information has been consolidated by IWS, giving due credit to the corresponding original sources when these are known, and establishing a link back if possible. IWS provides and published the data and displays statistics in good faith but does not guarantee the accuracy or provenience. Likewise IWS is not responsible for the use given to this information. The Internet usage and population data are best estimates available and a reasonable margin of error should be allowed for, as is usual for all statistical work.

In the event that any owner of the information cited or the sources opposes the publication of specific data, please let us know by advising our webmaster. We will promptly remove said data from our web site.

Visitors please take note that for statistical purposes Mexico has been included in the Central American countries statistics, according to the United Nations Statistics Division methods and classifications of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings. Turkey is included in the European statistics.

The designations employed and the presentation of material at this site do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on our part concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

The assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories by the United Nations or by this web page.

To this date, no confirmed figures for Internet Usage have been found for the following regions and territories of the world, some very small and some uninhabited, which do not affect significantly the overall statistical results:

AFRICA
1- Mayotte
2- Sahara (Western)

AMERICAS
1- Saint Pierre and Michelot
2- British Virgin Islands
3- Monserrat
4- Turk and Caicos Islands

ASIA
1- Korea, North - KP

EUROPE
1- Isle of Man
2- Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands

OCEANIA
1- American Samoa - AS
2- Antarctica - AQ
3- Bouvet Island - BV
4- British Indian Ocean Territory - IO
5- Chistmas Island - CX
6- Palau - PW
7- Pitcairn Islands - PN
8- South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands
9- Terres Australes
10- Territories of Australia
11- Other Smaller Territories.

Forwarding of information on Internet Usage for the above locations will be appreciated.

Hypertext Links
This site contains links to sites operated by third parties over which we have no control. IWS (Internet World Stats) makes no representations whatsoever about any other Web site that you may access through this one. Links imply neither that IWS is affiliated with or otherwise endorses any third parties nor that it is legally authorized to use any trademark, trade name, logo, or copyright symbol displayed in or accessible through the links, or that any linked site is authorized to use any trademark, trade name, logo, or copyright symbol of IWS.

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2. REGIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL COUNTRY DIRECTORY
The second section is the world regional country pages, an international directory featuring over 233 countries and regions of the world, organized into ten web pages. Individual country and regional pages feature maps, area information, and links to local search directories for the corresponding countries and regions.

The best way to find a specific country is to go directly to the alphabetical country list and from there to click on the specific country name. This alphabetical country list has been enhanced with the symbol for each country or region, the current number of Internet users and the IP Count.

2.1 COUNTRY DATA
Each country (or region) entry has a header or data box with the following specific information:
Country name.
ISO 3166 short code.
Current estimated population for 2005.
Area in square kilometers (sq km) of the country or territory.
Country or territory capital city.
Capital city population.
Internet users of the country or region.
Date and source of the information.
Internet penetration for the country.
This line will be in red for countries or regions where the penetration rate is over 50%.
Broadband subscribers (or connections) are shown in green, when available.

In the extent that fast Internet (broadband) usage data becomes available, this
information will be included in each country data box. Number of subscribers
data comes from ITU, and from various independent survey sources.

See two country "data box" examples below:

››› C H I N A

CN - 1,317,431,495 population - Country Area: 9,806,391 sq km

Capital city: Beijing - population 7,724,932 ('07)

162,000,000 Internet users as of June/07, 12.3% penetration, per CNNIC.

48,500,000 Internet broadband connections as of June/07, per M.I.I.

››› S W E D E N

SE - 9,043,990 population - Country Area: 449,965 sq km

Capital city: Stockholm - population 1,269,094 ('07)

6,981,200 Internet users as of Aug./07, 76.7% penetration, per Nielsen//NR.

2,478,003 Internet broadband connections as of March/07, per ECTA

2.2 COUNTRY LISTS
The best way to quickly find any one of the 233+ countries included in the site is to go to the country alphabetical list, and to click on the country name. A country list by geographical areas is also available. Another list is available showing the countries ranked according to the latest "Digital Access Index" data.

The digital access index is a vital reference for governments, international development agencies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to assess national conditions regarding information and communications technology (ICT) in each country.

Special note on Mexico and Turkey: For statistical purposes and consistency, and no other reasons, Mexico is included in the Central American countries statistics, according to the United Nations Statistics Division methods and classifications of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings. Turkey has been included in the European Countries as of October, 2005 because it is a candidate state for joining the European Union.

2.3 COMPOSITION OF MACRO GEOGRAPHICAL (CONTINENTAL) REGIONS
For the grouping of the countries and regions included in this web site we follow the United Nations Department of Economical and Social Affairs Classification, which may be seen here.

Special Note on country name modifications:

Current Name	Symbol	Old Name
Burkina Faso	BF	previously listed as Upper Volta
Cambodia	KH	previously listed as Democratic Kampuchea
Cote d'Ivoire	CI	previously listed as Ivory Coast
Democratic Republic of the Congo	CD	previously listed as Zaire
Hong Kong SAR	HK	HK is a Special Administrative Region of China
Macao SAR	MO	MO is a Special Administrative Region of China
Myanmar	MM	previously listed as Burma
Serbia and Montenegro	SC	previously listed as Yugoslavia, now split in two.
Sri Lanka	LK	previously listed as Ceilan
Timor-Leste	TP	previously listed as East Timor

2.4 ECONOMIC DATA
The main source for economic data and statistics is the World Bank.
Gross National Income per capita (GNI p.c.) is shown for most countries, if available. Details here.

2.5 BROADBAND DATA
Broadband or high speed Internet is generally defined as a transmission capacity that is faster than primary rate ISDN, at 1.5 or 2.0 Mbit/s. 256 kbit/s is generally taken as the minimum speed, according to Recommendation I.113 of the ITU Standardization Sector. In some countries 128 kbit/s is taken as the minimum speed and in some statistics ISDN usage is included in the broadband figures.

Broadband Internet access worldwide is mainly by means of Cable or DSL lines. This type of access is gaining more subscribers each day. IWS is now publishing broadband subscriber data for each country or region of the world, as such figures become available.
See broadband news here.

2.6 LANGUAGE DATA
The Internet is a Global Village with no physical frontiers, it is divided only by the different languages. We have researched the top ten languages spoken by the Internet Users and published this information. People speaking the same language show an inclination to form their own online community no matter what country they happen to live in. The latest estimated figures of the number of people online in each major language group may be seen here.

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5. INTERNET COACHING FREE LIBRARY

The Internet Coaching Free Library The object of this section is to offer free help, tips, advice, and guidence (coaching) about the Internet to the visitors of our website. It is a free resource and features useful articles and links on the subjects listed below:

• Business Managing Tips
• Business Opportunities
• Blog Coaching
• Coaching for Success
• Coaching for Internet Beginners
• Fix Windows PC Problems
• International Markets
• Internet Advertising
• Internet and Broadband
• Internet Marketing
• Industry Markets Research
• Internet Security
• Internet Writing
• Personal Investing Tips
• Personal Success Coaching
• Press Release Coaching
• Search Engine Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization
• Website Analytics
• Website Design Coaching

Your suggestions regarding the articles are welcomed. Tell us what articles you liked best, and what additional content you would like us to publish.

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6. SEARCH ENGINE STRATEGIES


This site contains several pages regarding Search Engines and coaching on this important subject about Internet Marketing today. The pages and links are given below. Each name contains the description of the page:

• Search Engines & Directories
• SEM - Search Engine Marketing
• SEO - Search Engine Optimization
• Coaching in Search Engine Marketing
• Coaching in Search Engine Optimization

7. GOOD STATISTICAL PRACTICES

United Nations Statistical Division
We believe that high quality international statistics, accessible for all, are a fundamental element of global information systems, and that to maintain the trust in international statistics, their production is to be impartial and strictly based on the highest professional standards. In this order of ideas we try to apply good practices and standards as recommended by the UN Statistical Division.

Other useful website sections to visit are:
The Webmaster Tools and eMarketing Tips

The Software Gallery
This section features several recommended software programs.
You are invited to visit the page and make use of the free trials.
Again, your support o, we try to apply the good practices as contains links to statisticsf the sponsors helps keep this website free.

Pop-Unders Gone
All pop-unders on this site have been removed. Visitors will
now experience a more enjoyable navigation during their visit.
No more pop-unders will show up in the future. Sometimes the
cache your PC keeps in old versions of the pages you visited,
so be sure to refresh any old IWS pages to be pop-under free

IWS believes that you should never be tricked into installing
software on your computer. We also believe that external
pop-ups, pop-unders, and exit-pops are all intrusive and
annoying to the Internet user.

Browser Tips: if you want a good and useful pop-up blocker,
get the Google toolbar. It is Free and has several useful features.
The Google toolbar also shows the Google Page Rank.

Another good alternative we recommend to block pop-ups
and pop-unders, and decrease the spyware and virus you
pick up while surfing the web, is to use a browser that
stops the pops and is safe and secure like the new
Mozilla Foundation Firefox . Already over 200 million
free copies of Firefox have been downloaded. We also
suggest using Opera, another fast browser that blocks
all the pop-ups and pop-unders and is free to download.

Other Internet Explorer compatible enhancements that
also block pop-ups are: the avantbrowser, and the
Maxthon , both are freeware that make use of the basic
Microsoft 'Internet Explorer' engine.


NEW WEB LOG (the What's New Page)
A new Blog has been added to the site in order to report changes,
post Internet news and inform updates regarding statistics at the site.
This blog is a useful resource for our frequent visitors. To see the blog,
click this Blog link, and a new window will open with the web log.
Older archive blog news are available at Blog 2, Blog 3 and Blog 4

8. ABREVIATIONS USED IN THIS WEBSITE

CIA - The US Central Intelligence Agency

C-I-A - The Computer Industry Almanac

EMEA - Generally refers to the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region

G8 - Refers to the G8 Group of countries, integrated by Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom and United States.

ITU = International Telecommunications Union.

IWS = Internet World Stats.

" GNI p.c. " is an economic indicator that means
"Gross National Income Per Capita". It corresponds to the
country's Gross Income divided by its total population
(number of inhabitants). It's the old GNP per capita.

MENA = Refers to Middle East plus North of Africa countries.

NIC = Network Information Center, part of the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet.

OECD = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developement.

p.r. = penetration rate

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